Chapter 16 - Taint

Iris

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Valkyre was awoken as he was pushed down onto his knees, bones jarred on the hard floor below him that rang hollowly of wood. He blinked open his eyes groggily, wincing at the dull, throbbing pain in the back of his head.
Pale yellow eyes glanced back at him, slitted reptilian and cool, amused.
"Hello there, angel."
The hunter struggled immediately as he recognized the eyes and the face as the vampire's, but he was bound tightly at the wrists, ankles, and knees with magic-enforced ropes that bit into his skin. He groaned in exasperation.
The vampire chuckled. "Sorry, but I'm afraid you're going to be stuck here for a while."
Valkyre paid him minimal attention, quickly trying to figure out where he was. The room was slightly cramped and mostly bare of possesions, faint murmur of voices and the clink of glass seeping up from downstairs. They had to be at an inn or bar then, in a rented room. ...Where was Iris?
Valkyre paused, dark violet eyes settling on a figure standing near the curtained window, silent and unmoving. The angel realized that this must've been the second attacker that he'd picked up on too late. The other lifted his gaze slightly, meeting the hunter's eyes. Valkyre was startled to see them, and at the same time to catch the other's aura- pale yellow and crimson red. Vampire and demon.
It wasn't really that the hybrid blood was different; he was used to seeing creatures of all types of crosses, but there was something... different about this one. The other blinked through dark lashes that matched his inky-black hair, hereditary from the bloodlines. He was dressed in all black, exposed neck and hands pale in comparison, arms crossed over his chest.
His unmatching eyes still held Valkyre's gaze- there was something cold and isolated about him, as if he stood apart from everything around him, somehow different. Perhaps he was, perhaps he was used to the abandonment due to his blood. The hunter was pretty sure he'd only recently joined the group.
"Ah, getting to know each other?" The other vampire had an eyebrow raised as he rose to his feet, walking over to a nearby dressing table that had a clutter of items on it. Valkyre flet like swearing out loud- it was all of his possessions, his hidden blades and weapons. Not like it would've done him much good had they still been with him; the other hunter had been thorough, binding up his fingers as well as his wrists. Stupid.
"...That's Raguel, if you ever care to be friends. But I doubt that'll happen, eh?"
Valkyre blinked as the vampire squatted near him again, holding out a piece of folded paper, wrinkled and bent but still clean and fresh. "Here's a little newsflash, just in case you didn't already know."
The angel stared at the print on the paper, then swore out loud under his breath, wincing. The vampire laughed.
A wanted post. For him.
A thousand gold for the black-winged angel that commited treason against the state for refusal to turn in the wanted bounty, Iris. Great. Just great.
Valkyre kept his teeth clenched, refusing to show any more emotion before his captors.
He was startled as he heard voices suddenly so close, the door swinging open. The other hunters came in, the lamia dressed in a simple crimson dress that showed the sides of now-human legs, the werewolf closing the door behind them, a young man with unruly dark brown hair.
"Oh," he said, mildly surprised to see the angel glaring back at him, tied and backed up against the wall, "You guys really did get him?"
The vampire rose, folding up the paper again with a backwards glance. "Yup. Should we turn him in now as well?"
The lamia laughed from beside the bed, shaking her head. A leather bag jingled with coins in her hand. "We'll take care of that later, Asher. And, besides, we don't really even need the money, not after striking it this big tonight!"
She laughed again, sliding down onto the bed and sitting. "I think this calls for a celebration, really. Would you get us some drinks, Phelan?" The lamia fished around and pulled out a large gold piece, handing it to the were. He grinned, flashing a smirk slightly too wolfish, then left.
"Honestly, Asher," she continued, folding her legs, "Do we even need that birdy's bounty? It's hardly worth anything, not compared to Iris."
The vampire, Asher, shrugged and knelt near Valkyre, reaching out and grabbing the seal that he must've placed back around the angel's neck earlier. "We can always use more money, Ayra," he replied, fingers rubbing the cool black stone set in the seal. The lamia shrugged and sighed as she lay down on the bed. Valkyre glanced back at Raguel- the half-breed hadn't moved the entire time. His eyes remained cold and calm, ignoring them all.
"Besides," Asher whispered, right in the angel's ear, "It's not often I get to taste angelic blood..." Valkyre glared straight into the vampire's reptilian yellow eyes, but he didn't move. He knew it would be useless, and he blatantly refused to show fear or surprise before the others.
Asher let the seal stone slip between his fingers. Valkyre turned his gaze away as the vampire grabbed him by the chin and shoulders, baring his neck.
The angel tried to keep from wincing as the teeth sank into his skin, felt the sedative flushed into his veins as the canines found the blood. The vampire was pushing him down towards the floorboards as he bent over him, a feeling like raging fire as he felt his blood drawn into the other's mouth, searing and-
Asher tore himself away suddenly, shoving Valkyre to the ground. The angel winced as his shoulder jarred on the floorboards, but he was otherwise unhurt, a warm trickle of blood running down his collar. The vampire, out of the corner of his eye, spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped his lips. "...Tainted blood," he hissed, glowering at Valkyre, who struggled back up onto his knees.
Asher had stood up and moved slightly away, regarding him with despising eyes. Valkyre glowered straight back, though inside he was startled; he had tainted blood? He had never really been checked, by the state or otherwise, about his actual bloodline- but he had always used the simple angel's seal, and nothing else had ever come up. He had always assumed he was half-angel and half-human, or something close to that... perhaps there had been a dilution of something else in the human blood?
Before either of them had a chance to say anything more, Phelan, the werewolf, reappeared, laden with a tray of food and a bottle of white wine, and Asher forgot about him as he rose and joined the other hunters.
Valkyre looked away. Why were things suddenly coming up about him? He wondered briefly if it really was he that Maeve had been referring to with the tainted blood... Did she know? He couldn't remember if she'd seemed like insinuating, or just commenting.
The angel blinked, ignoring the voices of the other three hunters and doing his best to ignore the tantilizing smell of fresh food. He paused suddenly, then looked up.
Raguel was looking straight at him. Valkyre was caught by those eyes, eyes that were suddenly clear and focused; directed right at him. Something had broken the other out of his frozen, uncaring state. Valkyre.
The angel blinked back calmly at the pale yellow and the crimson red eyes, wanting to silently ask him questions, wanting to know who he was. ...Why would he suddenly join these hunters? ...Why would they let him? Valkyre knew by the way they acted that Raguel was a new addition; one that kept to himself and remained silent, nothing more than background... but why did he join up with them in the first place??
Someone called out, and Raguel turned away and joined the others. Valkyre watched him move, slow and careful steps. ...Like he was afraid something would show through? Like he was holding back on something, putting on a pretense?
The angel turned his head and gazed stubbornly at the curtains over the window as he listened to the others' conversation. He eventually tuned them out, turning to his own thoughts again. He had to get out. Maybe later, when they went to sleep, or when they would try to bring him to the state; ...then again, maybe he should play along and go. They had gotten the bounty money- that meant that they must've already turned over Iris.
...No, he had to get out as soon as possible. The town they were in was much more stricter than the last, where Valkyre still doubted as to whether or not anyone had found the dead body in the inn, but it was definately not a final location for Iris. If there was such of a large bounty on him, the capital was probably where he would be headed for, where they'd do... whatever it was they wanted Iris for in the first place. He had to get there first and take back the boy, before he was lost to the impassible security and hidden locations of the state.
Valkyre let out a sigh, absentmindedly watching as the four hunters finished up their food and wine. Phelan was rising to get more wine, but Raguel produced a small bottle of whiskey and it was passed around. The angel avoided the laughing and the boisterous, cheerful voices, staring down at the drying splatter of blood on the ground. Again, he felt confused, unsure. ...He was tainted? How?
Eventually, the hunters settled down and the lights went out. Asher and the lamia, Ayra, were curled up against each other on the bed. Phelan was settled on a mass of blanket spread on the ground at the foot of the bed, and Raguel had settled into a chair next to the window again, arms crossed over his chest, dozing.
Valkyre, meanwhile, was getting cramps in his arms and sides, and his right leg was asleep, stinging of pins and needles. He waited until the room was silent, and most of what he could hear downstairs as well before he tried to free his wrists again. It proved fruitless; with the seal on, he had no more abilities than a normal human, and the magic-enforced ropes wouldn't give out.
The angel decided to settle on trying to get his seal off. He made to bend over and try to work the necklace over his head, but he froze. His amethyst eyes met pale yellow and ruby red.
He remembered now, the bright crimson eyes of Iris. ...Iris had demon's blood in him too, but why... why would it affect him so strongly as to change his eye color, and perhaps... perception? Behavior, entire personality? ...Like it was trying to come out, or it was overthrowning the other half of the boy- angel...?
Valkyre had no more time to muse on his thoughts. Raguel was awake.

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AN: First note- I only realized this after I'd plotted out this entire part... I'm doing a lot of people with two-colored eyes, aren't I?? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, and I didn't even recognize it until now... I'll try to stop it! So sorry! XD
Oh, and, yes, I should've uploaded this chapter yesterday... But, y'know, comments... they really help... ...::twiddles thumbs:: Really, it's hard to think a little click and bit of typing, but really, just a few comments and it cheers me up so much... Comment please! ...Really, I'm so hesitant to upload new chapters now...
Aaaanywho. So, now, we've got names and slight intros! Don't quite know about Raguel, he's not that cool... I don't think... -_-; Basic char. design had him as older, more lofty kinda person... I'll work on it. Psh.
Sooooo anyone here find it kinda uncomfortable to truss up a guy and leave him in your room?? o_O ...It's all in the fantasy, please, bear with. ^_^;
Thanks for reading as always, and see ya next chappie. [...Comment... please...]

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