Outlaw Blues: Thanatophobia

“The fallen has some nerve.”
“He certainly shows no regret for his actions—associating so flippantly with the humans.”
“Just look at him. He’s been here four times in the past two weeks. What does he think he’s doing?”
“Maybe he wants to become one of them. What do you think he’s up to Michael?”
The mention of his name brought the raven haired head around to look at the other angels in the alcove above the dance floor. Gazing passively at the four with purplish red eyes, he lifted a shoulder in an elegant shrug. Turning he leaned against the banister again to watch his human dancing with his friends.
The fallen wasn’t far from the boy, and his presence left Michael with an unsettling sense of nervousness and relief. After that night when Reuel had saved Ashantii’s life, the angel had found himself thinking deeply about the role of he played in the boy’s life. The fallen had been right. He did love the boy. This emotion in and of itself was enough to provoke a firestorm of confusion in the angel.
“I think he wants to protect them.”
Laughter erupted behind the black haired angel, and he sighed. They couldn’t understand the thoughts that were plaguing his mind because of that fallen angel. They would be able to watch their wards home tonight without being terrified of losing him. Angels weren’t supposed to care. Ignoring the truth of the comments that the fallen would bring more danger to the humans at the club than he would bring protection, Michael stared at his human who was dancing in the center of the throng of people below.
Reuel laughed as he slid in between Ashantii and Cat. With a wicked grin over his shoulder at the girl, he grabbed the brown haired youth and swung him into the fast rhythm of the dance. Whistle and catcalls broke out in the group surrounding them. The fallen angel was once again wearing his soft jeans with a loose red mesh shirt. White blonde hair glowing blue in the black light strobes was pulled back into his high ponytail. The contrast was sharp between the two men. The human wore tight, black leather pants and a loose white blouse. His thick-soled boots gave him a half-inch of height over the blonde.
Demons milled in the dark corners of the club, and Reuel could feel their attention focusing on him every once in a while. The mere thought of attracting their attention now was nearly enough to send him running from the club. He cared too much for the humans he had befriended to allow them to be hurt because of him. His fears were lessened by the fact that they had not approached him yet.
A busty blonde girl danced her way between Reuel and Ashantii pushing the fallen backwards to dance with him. He regretfully allowed himself to lose sight of the young man.
Several minutes later, Reuel waved his hands as the next song began and made his way to the bar to get a bottle of water. He drank the icy liquid in half a minute, looking regretfully at the now empty bottle. He closed his gray-violet eyes leaning back against the bar as he panted for breath tired from his exertions.
Thinking of Ashantii dancing with his friend, Reuel smiled. The boy was stronger than he let anyone know. He had put aside his terror the night he had been attacked with a resilience the fallen angel found remarkable. As far as he knew, the boy had not told any of his friends about the molestation, and while Reuel wasn’t sure if that was the best route to take, it was the boy’s decision.
“Hey, Reuel!”
Opening his eyes, the fallen looked over at Bethanie who fairly glowed with excitement and an inner radiance. He smiled brightly and motioned her into a quieter corner of the club.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“You left the floor. Cat and Kaye were looking for you. They wanted to double dance with you.”
Laughing, Reuel shook his head and waved his hands defensively.
“Oh no, those two are going to dance me into exhaustion. Last time I tried, I was barely able to stumble back home before I fell asleep.”
“Liar, you know you love it! I promise I’ll protect you though if you really don’t want to dance right now. Hey, you and ‘Shantii looked good dancing! There were a lot of upset people when that girl cut in like that.”
“Really? It’s all thanks to you, you know. I didn’t know how to dance before you showed me how.”
Bethanie snorted inelegantly.
“I don’t have some of the moves you know.”
“Yeah, but you did teach me a lot. Don’t underestimate yourself.”
“Don’t you either! Oh there’s Drew! I’ll catch you later out on the floor.”
Reuel watched the girl go with a warm smile, before turning his attention to the people of the club again. He frowned slightly as his eyes darted up to study the angels standing above in the dark alcove on the second floor. The black haired angel of Ashantii nodded slightly in his direction acknowledging his presence. The dark purple eyes darted away again, and the blonde followed the direction of the gaze to fix on an agitated man standing in the entrance of the club.
His eyes would have slid on past if it hadn’t been for the gray skinned demon watching the human intently from the shadows nearby. Gray-violet eyes turned back to study the man closer. The brunette was arguing fiercely with the bodyguards at the entrance, shaking off their hands when they tried to restrain him from the entrance. Reuel would have merely thought him overly drunk if not for the demon so close to him. One of the larger bouncers turned his head to speak into a radio, and the man pushed his way past.
“Casey! Stop, please! You don’t know what you’re doing.”
The fallen angel was startled to see a flustered angel dashing into the club. Even though insubstantial, his words seemed to affect the human, who slowed his furious entrance. The angel was bleeding freely from a large gash in his right arm, and his flowing clothing was torn and dirtied.
Without a word, Reuel set aside his empty bottle and started making his way towards the entrance. Above, he could see a scramble as the angels finally took note of the serious situation below them and rushed to their humans’s sides. The blonde nodded as Ashantii’s guardian ran past him.
“Rachel!”
The brunette man’s yell caught the attention of the people on the dance floor, and they slowed uncertainly and moved back a step as the man shambled towards them. As people began to move backwards, the man’s angel moved in between them, clenching his hands in futile desperation. Fury darkened his green eyes as he glared at the demon, laughing in the shadows near the door.
“Damn you, Bristol. Why the hell did you do this to him?”
“Because I enjoy it, Janice. What other reason do I have for existing?”
“Casey—Casey, you have to calm down. This isn’t the way to deal with this. You know that.”
Reuel began pushing though the close packed humans to stop near the front row of them. In the human’s eyes, he could see the angel’s words beginning to have an effect, and he seemed to ease away from his anger. The brief hesitation was destroyed as one of the bouncers grabbed him around the arms and lifted him from the floor. Off to the side, the demon laughed hysterically as a loud crack of a gun report echoed off the club’s walls. Screams of terror erupted around Reuel as the bouncer fell backwards with a shout, clutching his bleeding thigh.
“Casey!”
The anguish in Janice’s voice cut though Reuel’s heart, and as the humans around him ran away from the man, the fallen angel moved forward to stop again as the revolver was turned onto him. Casey’s eyes were wide with panic and rage. Lifting his hands to show they were empty, Reuel smiled gently.
“Casey…”
“Who the hell are you?”
Janice’s eyes turned bleakly onto Reuel. They flashed for an instance with recognition and distrust before he turned back to his human in fading hope.
“I’m Reuel. Can you put the gun down and let’s talk?”
“No!”
Reuel gritted his teeth as the brunette swung his arm careless of where the gun was aimed.
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
The blonde angel glanced over his shoulder again, his mouth tightening.
“No. Go away! Where’s Rachel?”
“Who’s Rachel, Casey?”
“She’s his girlfriend. He thinks she’s cheating on him.”
Startled, the white-blonde fallen looked for a brief instant into the desperate green eyes of the guardian angel. He nodded slightly acknowledging the words.
“He was going to talk to her tonight about it, but she came here instead. He wanted to talk to her, but the demon convinced him that this was the only way he could get her back.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Casey, put down the gun, and I’ll help you find her.”
The fallen angel suddenly found the revolver aimed at his chest, and the furious man’s eyes glaring miserably at him.
“Are you the one she’s been seeing? Are you him?”
Reuel shook his head slightly, taking a cautious step forward.
“No… Are you sure she’s cheating on you?”
“Yes!”
“He’s not! She’s not cheating on him.”
The blonde’s eyebrows drew together in deep thought as he studied the man. He could hear the bouncer groaning on the ground behind Casey, and the quiet muttering of the crowd behind him. The music had been shut off, and the silence in the room was disconcerting.
“Casey, there’s no reason to hurt anyone.”
“He’s lying. He’s the one she’s seeing.”
Gray-violet eyes widened as the gray skinned demon moved from the shadows to stand behind the young man. The situation was very quickly becoming a tug of war with the human in the center and his life as the prize.
“Casey, come on you know she loves you. Didn’t she just say that she would marry you after you graduated?”
The man seemed to falter at the angel’s words, his bottom lip trembling. He shook his head flailing his arm again as tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Where’s Rachel?”
“I’m here, Casey.”
The soft voice came from directly behind Reuel, and he turned his head to look at the girl. She was wearing the uniform of one of the barkeepers, her short black hair pulled back with clips.
“Rachel?”
There was a note of uncertainty in the man’s voice, and Reuel stepped forward again. The girl followed him as he walked slowly towards the brunette.
“Casey, what were you thinking? You know I love you and only you. We were running short on money. I had to take a second job.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Reuel stopped a few feet away from the man, and the girl peeked around his shoulder to smile warmly at her lover.
“Because I didn’t want you to worry. Give him the gun okay? We can talk okay?”
Nodding, Casey held the gun out limply. Reuel took it with a deep sigh of relief. Rachel rushed around him and threw her arms around the man. Jantice smiled at them tenderly before glaring at the demon who shrugged before turning and bolting from the room.
Only a few moments passed before the police arrived, and Reuel ducked out of the club as soon as he could to go hunt down the demon.
“Jantice?”
The blonde looked up smiling weakly as his human was lead away in handcuffs. He was shaking with over exertion and relief.
“Michael.”
The raven haired angel laid a hand on the other’s shoulder, turning him slightly to inspect the deep wounds.
“What happened?”
“The distraction technique they used on that fallen who was in here. They were working together. I killed the demons I thought were attacking him, but I didn’t know there was another one talking him into this. By the time I figured it out, he was already here.”
Nodding his head slightly, Michael squeezed the young angel’s shoulder. His eyes shot to his own ward as the boy walked past.
“He makes it look so easy, the fallen does—to throw it all away and protect them physically, to confront them physically. It’s not your fault entirely. You kept him from hurting anyone too badly.”
“I was so scared he was going to kill someone.”
“It’s alright. You might be allowed to argue in his defense at the hearing. You should be allowed to stay with him even if he did hurt the man. You need to get your arm looked at soon, even we can be killed by a demon’s wound.”
The blonde nodded, and with a final pat on his shoulder, Michael hurried after Ashantii as the boy walked from the club with his small group of friends. Several blocks down, he glanced into the shadows of an alley to find Reuel leaning heavily against the brick wall, panting heavily. The corpse of the demon lay at his feet, invisible to human’s eyes and beginning to flake as it began to incinerate from within.
Michael’s acute attention pulled Ashantii to a confused halt.
“’Shantii?”
Bethanie turned to stare at the young man. He looked down into her blue eyes and smiled warmly shaking his head. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her on down the street with the others.
“I was just thinking about how incredibly, stupidly brave he was.”
“Reuel?”
“Yeah… He’s good at that.”
Reuel grinned from the shadows, one hand clamped over a shallow cut on his shoulder. He nodded acknowledging the angel and the truthfulness of the boy’s words before walking from the alley invisibly.
“You’ll be alright?”
“Yes, and you?”
“It’s just a scratch.”
“Get it treated soon.”
“I will.”
Turning away from the raven-haired demon, Reuel slowly made his way back to the Maccrea’s apartment. He stumbled though the door, toeing off his shoes just inside the entrance. Taking only long enough to wash the shallow cut and apply a few bandages to it, the man collapsed onto the couch and pulled his blanket over himself before he fell into a heavy slumber.

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End Chapter Thanatophobia
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