Clouded Heart 16 Lies

Chapter Six

Fire exploded and shrapnel flew into the s.p.a.ce where Raven's head had been just seconds before. He tucked, ducked and rolled behind a half wall for cover.  A moment later he saw a familiar figure running toward where he was crouched...and drawing enemy fire right to him.

"Aleksandr!" Ebony exclaimed, fl.u.s.tered and annoyed as she dropped to her hip and slid across the dirt like some pro baller for a base. "I can't believe you left me there!"

He raised his staff and let out a chant of power to attack the enemy. It was only for a second, but it looked like they had a bead on him; they fired at him the second his head was in view.

"You're a vampire for f.u.c.k's sake!" He said as he was forced to duck back behind the wall to avoid it.

"I'm a LADY," she protested. "A lady who knows her limits!"

"Do I have to remind you of whose fault it is that we're even in this mess?!"  He yelled angrily and dropped to the other side of the wall to ready a talisman.

Ebony managed to roll her eyes, but before she could protest, Raven and her were almost knocked back by a blast of heat and the aftershock of an attack.

Raven dug the b.u.t.t his staff along the dirt ground and began to chant in a language Ebony had never heard. Wind gathered around and under them, and lightning began to crackle with energy around his staff.

She could swear his eyes burned hot like coals as his voice thundered across the lot to where the enemy was. Ebony even had to hold herself against the wall to prevent the wind from sweeping her up into the air.

There was a reason he was a senior exorcist, she admitted to herself, although she was still p.i.s.sed he had left her in the warehouse.

"Aleksandr!" She yelled across to him in hopes of getting his attention.

She saw him lock eyes with her briefly while he chanted, so she continued, "Go for the man on the right! I'll handle it from there!"

She barely got the words out of her mouth when Raven released his talisman with a final, rumbling word.

The piece of paper almost flew faster than she could run. She barely got over in time when the demon Raven had cast his incantation at was struck with the holy seal, and paralyzed it.

Ebony wasted no time.  Like a snake, she reached out and ripped out the closest attackers throat before he could cast any counter spells.

In another second, she was behind the other two these ones both human.

She snapped his neck with a violent twist to the side, and the other one felt the wrath of her growing blood l.u.s.t.

She bit into his jugular and felt the life draining out of him with every beat of his heart until it didn't beat again.

When Ebony was just about finished, a shout reached her through the red haze that had settled in her mind.

She turned around just in time to avoid the swing of the last demon- a second later and she would have been decapitated. Just as Ebony was dodging a series of vicious strikes suddenly, the demon was. .h.i.t with half a dozen talisman. It caused her to scream out in pain, momentarily making her falter in her attack against the vampire. But that millisecond opening was all Ebony needed to dodge out of the way to a safe distance.

Raven cast another chant and more binding papers were slapped onto the demon. Ebony could see the crackle of holy energy spread into a web across the demons body like a net, binding her. It held the demon in place long enough for Ebony to activate her blood power.

She raked her nails across her aim, causing her fresh blood to pool and drip down her snow pale skin. Her eyes glowed a sickly red as she used her blood like a whip and cracked it around the demon's neck.

The demon struggled and writhed in her hold, hoping for some chance of escape; it was useless.

"Lets see if we can get any useful information out of her," Raven said, coming up beside her.

If Ebony wasn't trying to stop herself from ripping the demon apart and bleeding it dry, then she might have noticed his breathing was labored.

She shook her head. "I don't think we'll get much. It seems a little low level."

All Ebony felt was the throb of her thoughts: Kill the ant in front of her.

"How dare you think you could best me, you insignificant insect?!" She said angrily and tightened the whip around it's neck. 
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The demon let out a few pained chuckles. "Oh please. Nothing you do will compare to what my boss would do.He'll skin me alive if you don't kill me right now. Or I'll kill you and your precious monk."

The comment made Ebony's vision swim red, but despite her rage, she gave a smile. "It seems you've heard of me darling," she said and leaned forward so that she and the other demon were face to face. "I have so many ways of making you talk that you'll wish you were dead by the end of it."

"Now, Lady Ebony-" Raven warned. He could see the vampire was losing control of herself.

He gently placed a hand on Ebony's shoulder to help calm her down. It was a mistake.

The vampire snarled and in reflex shoved him away from her- and right through the wall of the building behind him.

It was a sickening sound. Raven barely managed to reinforce his body as it slammed through the thick concrete and reinforced steel like it was styrofoam. Dust billowed up around the hole now in the warehouse wall.

It was too late when Ebony had realized what she had done. As sudden as it came, her blood l.u.s.t was gone, fear for the human in its place.

"Aleksandr!"

She let go of the demon and ran over to the wall. There was no sound or movement coming from Raven. Inside she found him flat on his back and dark blood pooling under his head. His eyes were closed and more blood was dripping from his ears and the corners of his mouth.

"Aleksandr!" She said again and rushed over to him. Her hands shook as she placed them on his neck to feel for a pulse.

It was just as her fingers touched his skin Raven's chest with a sharp breath which was then preceded by a few violent coughs in an effort to clear his airway. His blood sprayed across the concrete when he turned his head to the side.

Ebony felt a chill in her chest. "Aleksandr, are you ok?" she asked. Relief washed over her as she saw him breathing.

****

Raven's POV

"Stop screeching," Raven said after he gathered himself and clutched his head. He pulled his hand away and saw blood. With a sigh he muttered a low curse and grabbed a low grade healing potion out of his bag. He swallowed it in one gulp and hoped it was enough.

It st.i.tched his head wound closed but did little for everything else, which was unfortunate but not unexpected.

Raven tried to sit up. Ebony started to help him, but he waved her off. "Don't."

Ebony ducked her head and placed her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry-"

"I just said don't," Raven repeated and gingerly got to his feet.

His ribs hurt and his ears were ringing as he stood up. He glanced at Ebony, who was avoiding his eyes and continued to hang her head down in shame.

He looked down as his feet to watch where he was going and felt foolish for many reasons . It was a stupid thing to do- touching her when she had been in full hunting mode- but he didn't know what he was supposed to say to her in this situation. It was both their faults, and more carelessness on his part, but if the church found out she had attacked him, accident or not, she was as good as dead.

"Well, let's go back. Grab the demon and bring the corpses too-" Raven dropped the thought as he made his way back out to the lot and saw that the demon, including the other bodies, were already gone.

"Don't tell me that everything is gone?!" d.a.m.n it to h.e.l.l! This whole trip had been a waste of time!

His head began to throb even more as his blood pressure rose from frustration and he began to cough again.

Ebony was silent, ashamed and humiliated.

When he calmed down, he sighed. "I suppose there's no use in whining about it. Let's just get back. I need to think of what to tell the deacon." G.o.d, he needed a nap and some aspirin…

The car ride back was was filled with a tense silence.Raven didn't say anything further until they reached the inst.i.tute where Raven was staying that also doubled as a base of operations for the Church. He had been sent on this mission to obtain a demon for interrogation after it was discovered that one  of them might know something about the Black Circle. The Church had been expecting something, but it looked like they wouldn't have anything today. He groaned to himself as he thought of all the paperwork he was going to have to do.

"Just be quiet and let me do the talking, alright?" he told her as they got out of the van and lead them to the office of the deacon in charge of inst.i.tution branch.

***

The debriefing went as well as could be expected.

"How did the demon escape?" the deacon asked Raven to elaborate, his tone icey.

"She got the jump on me, sir." he replied and flushed with embarra.s.sment. "It was stronger than I calculated. While Lady Ebony was taking care of the other enemies, it broke my spell and escaped after knocking me out."

The deacon sighed and rubbed his face with his hands and shook his head.

Raven took the opportunity and glanced sideways at Ebony. He saw she wanted to open her mouth so he gave a brief look that told her to keep quiet.

After a long moment the deacon collected  himself and gave Raven a long, hard stare and spoke. "I'm disappointed, Ivankov, that you were this careless. But regardless, you should go to the infirmary, and after you are treated, make sure to write out detailed report. I want it on my desk tomorrow."  His tone was more reserved as he turned slightly to face Ebony. "And thank you, Lady, for looking out for him. He's still young and inexperienced with alot to learn."

They were both dismissed with a wave of a hand. The two of them left the office quickly and Raven began to head toward his room.

"Where are you going?" Ebony asked sharply when she realized that they were not going to the infirmary.

Raven could tell she was still worried about him, but he didn't know why. Once again he had to remind himself that she really was strange for a demon. Her usually laissez faire att.i.tude was nowhere to be seen.

"To my dorm to write my report. I have a lot to explain to the higher ups."

"Yea, okay," she said quietly, but her tone was full of anger.

Raven stopped walking and turned to face the vampire.

"What seems to be the problem with your att.i.tude? If I recall, I wasn't the only one at fault here."

"Oh, please. Stop the tough guy act, alright? You should've just told the truth!" she said, her voice rising with anger. Pa.s.serbys started to look at them as they walked pa.s.sed and if they weren't careful, the truth really would be discovered.

Raven grabbed Ebony by the shoulders and pushed her into an empty room.

"Stop!" he said and gave her a small shake. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down?!" she asked in offense. "How can I? I could have killed you!"

"It's okay," he said, trying to rea.s.sure her. At this point, he was afraid she would go back to the deacon and tell the truth. Then there wouldn't be any hope of catching the Black Circle at all! "I know you didn't mean it. I'm not going to put the church on your a.s.s because of a mistake we both made," he emphasised. He let go of her once he felt she had calmed down. "Geez, it's like you want me to give you to them. They are looking for any excuse right now, and we don't need an all out war right now. We need to be in this together, alright?"

Ebony shook her head. "I- I know." She looked up at him. "I really am sorry, Alexsandr."

"I already-" Raven was cut off by his own groan. He had a feeling his ribs were fractured.

Ebony was now the one holding his shoulders. "Aleksandr?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Sorry, just a little sore," he said, trying to rea.s.sure her. He gave a small smile and straightened up as best he could.

Ebony rolled her eyes but said in a joking manner, "I don't see how that's possible. I backhanded you pretty hard."

Raven scoffed and took her hands off of him. "It will take more than a love tap like that to take me down, my lady." He looked at the watch on his wrist. "You really should head home, Miss Ebony. It wouldn't be safe for you to stay much longer in the enemies camp."

Ebony didn't say anything, but she put her hands on Raven's cheeks. She stretched herself so that they were face to face

"Please take care of yourself, Aleksandr," she whispered against his mouth before she gave him a chaste but gentle peck on the lips.

Raven felt himself blush at the simple action, and knew that Ebony saw by her smirk when she pulled away.

"I'll contact you soon," she said and stepped back.

Her eyes seemed to glitter in the dim light and Raven had to make sure that his hands stated by his sides to ensure himself that he wouldn't pull her back into a much more intimate embrace.

Instead, he just nodded. "Alright. I'll keep my ear to the ground in case I hear anything before then," he paused before adding, "Take care of yourself too, my lady."

The vampire excused herself first and Raven waited awhile before he left as well to make his way to his room.

By the time he arrived there, he was breathing heavily and his ribs felt like they were on fire. Quickly, he took off his s.h.i.+rt and checked himself out in a mirror on the inside of his wardrobe door.

The inspection revealed the left side of his chest was a mix of an angry red and purple bruise. Lacerations and dark cuts also littered his shoulders and back. Without his protection spells his body would've been mangled for sure. He gently poked it with his fingertips and saw stars. His eyes welled up with tears as he did again, this time feeling for abnormal heat that might indicate any infections.

Once again, the scene reminded him that Ebony was a vampire with incredible strength. It wouldn't take much for her to snap him in half if she wanted to. He was lucky that he had combat experience to help him when something unexpected happened.

With a sigh he was about to turn away when he saw a spot darker than the rest. With a closer look, he saw it was a welt. It was swollen and s.h.i.+ny, raising a good half inch off of his skin. He didn't know what caused it but he decided that if it got worse, he would go to the infirmary.

He got fully undressed and went into the dorm shower room, confirming that his back was the worst and that his ribs were definitely fractured. Under the pressure of the water, his cuts and skin stung. It made him grit his teeth, but he suffered through it.

Raven was never more thankful for a shower to be over than he was that night. His body looked worse from the water stimulating his blood flow, but with healing potions and salves, he should be fine in five to seven days. He went to his desk and grabbed said salves and applied where he could. After that painful process, he sat down at the desk with dread.

"Time to write that report…"