Chapter 6 “Angels and Demons”

Chapter 6 “Angels and Demons”

“Such a pretty one… and powerful too,” a dry raspy voice said in her ear. “What a delicacy you will be.”

Kyoko began twisting her body back and forth, trying to dislodge the hag’s cold and clammy hands from her throat. She could feel the witch starting to drain her energy and she blinked against the blackness that began to form around the edges of her vision. She rammed an elbow into the hell hag’s stomach and only got a grunt for her efforts.

“Fight all you want child,” the hag whispered. “You are mine.”

The children around them stared in wonder at the woman fighting the mean lady. She was trying to help them and each one was very frightened. One brave little boy took off his shoe and threw it at the witch’s head. It was soon followed by another shoe, then a heavy plastic pumpkin basket full of candy. Kyoko knew she would have smiled if the situation weren’t so dire.

The witch hissed at them but they’d started yelling, now as they gained courage from each other, throwing whatever they could at her. Some of the children began shouting to leave the nice lady alone, while others screamed for their parents. Just as Kyoko’s vision was starting to fade, something screamed past her and the hands around her neck vanished.

Everything became silent once more and Kyoko fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath. The witch’s grip had been so tight that she could almost still feel the death grip of icy fingers.

When she looked up, her lips parted seeing the hag now pinned to the round center wall of the ride. It was who stood in front of the hell hag that stole her breath once more. The man she had seen from the window earlier today was holding the witch around the neck with only one hand.

Kyoko shivered as she rose to her feet when she saw the man look at the mirror behind the witch and lock eyes with her for one long heartbeat. Then the mirrors on the wall around them began to glow softly before they turned to an angry red that made her think of churning lava. Heavy chains shot out of the reflective surfaces and wrapped around the wrists of the witch… stretching her arms out to her sides and holding her there.

The witch screamed and strained against the bonds, her face distorted in rage. The man leaned forward and whispered something into the demon’s ear that Kyoko couldn’t hear over the Disney music that was playing. The witch snapped her teeth at the beautiful man who stood calmly before her. Her expression then melted into one of complete fright and she began struggling against the chains once more.

The mirror behind the witch turned black and she screamed when her head started to lean back into it. She began rapidly speaking in a language Kyoko couldn’t understand and honestly didn’t want too.

Darious had heard the cries of the children that had fallen victim to the demon before he even heard the screams of defiance. It was their nightmares he had heard and it was all he could do not to place his hands in his hair and join their screams.

He had found the carousel easily enough, but he was shocked to see the young woman he’d saved earlier physically fighting the hag. He was amused when the children immediately around her tried to fight the demon off themselves. What angered him into action was seeing the creature’s filthy hands around the woman’s neck… touching her was not allowed.

Now as he held the witch at his mercy, his rage had risen even more at the audacity of demons in general. Focusing all his fury on the beastie, Darious lifted his hand and shot a life-force blast dead center into her chest, causing her to lose the bit of concentration she had and fall backwards into the mirror’s void behind her.

The chains extending from the other mirrors followed her with an ominous clinking hiss before he sealed the portal shut.

With tears in his eyes that were now the color of blue ice, Darious turned away from the mirrors just as the sky opened up in a downpour as if joining in his sadness. He felt the carousel begin to slow down but he needed more time. He extended his power toward the machinery, keeping it going so he could save the few children that had fallen into the hell hag’s trap.

Flowing effortlessly through the rows of children, Darious slipped from one to the next, whispering his fingers over the cheeks of those asleep and awakening them from their nightmares. Many of the children reached out to touch him and he let them. With each touch and each child that awoke… his pain slowly ebbed.

He then came to the young woman who had been foolish, stupid, and brave enough to stand up to the demon.

Darious moved past her to the last victim and gently touched the cheek of a blonde haired girl, wiping away her damp tears with the soft pads of his thumbs. Kyoko’s lips parted as he turned around to stare at her, their gazes locking with one another.

The rain stopped just as the little blonde girl opened her eyes and sat up on her unicorn. She looked around sleepily for a moment before she reached out and tapped the man on the shoulder to gain his attention.

As frightening as he had been only moments ago, now Kyoko watched as he reached out and gently touched the child’s forehead with his finger.

The girl inhaled deeply then blinked her precious bright blue eyes and looked up at Darious. “Are you an angel?”

“No, my name is Darious,” he whispered and started to turn away, but the little girl reached out and wrapped her small hand around one of his fingers. Darious looked back at the little girl with a soft expression while her eyes looked up at him in confusion.

“But when you came and took me away from the monsters… I saw your wings,” she whispered. “You have to be an angel if you have wings.”

He came closer and cupped her cheek in his hand. “That was only a dream… your mother is waiting for you.” He slipped from her grip and vanished from her sight as the ride came to a stop.

Kyoko stood where she was, feeling like she had just witnessed something straight out of the twilight zone. Her gaze traveled over the children as they ran from the ride and into their mother and father’s outstretched arms, some of them actually whispering ‘thank you’ as they rushed by her.

Exiting the ride, Kyoko reached in her pocket for her cell phone before remembering what had happened to it with the shadow demons. She wanted to tell the others what had just happened and her shoulders slumped realizing she was alone with no way to reach them.

Stepping down from the carousel, Kyoko walked away from the crowd in an effort to stop shaking. Reaching up, she touched the soreness around her throat where the witch had tried to strangle her. She could feel the deep bruises that probably hadn’t even started forming yet.

That was the closest she’d come in a while to being killed by one of the monsters. Wrapping her arms around herself, she found a lone bench to sit down.

Darious stood only a few steps in front of her, invisible, as he watched her slowly start rocking back and forth. She looked so lost and alone… a mirror of his own feelings. He reached out to touch her but withdrew at the last moment, not willing to see the rejection in her eyes. Normally, he killed the things that haunted him in the night, so this feeling was new for him and it was driving him mad.

Scowling at his train of thought, Darious started to walk away when she suddenly stood up and the words that tumbled out of her mouth stopped him in his tracks, urging him to glance back at her.

Kyoko knew she was rocking but she couldn’t help it. That was probably the most frightening thing she’d ever encountered. All those children could have been killed.

Her eyes suddenly widened when she remembered what Kamui had said. There were a lot of children at the hospital only a couple blocks from here that were stranded within their nightmares. She abruptly stood up and turned full circle, looking for the man who had saved the children on the carousel.

“Come back,” Kyoko whispered starting to panic. “Darious please, don’t leave yet.”

Upset with herself for having failed, she turned on her heels. Instead of returning to the haunted house where Suki and others were surely waiting on her, she walked in the opposite direction… towards the hospital.

Darious fisted his hands at his sides as he watched her walk away from him. He closed his eyes to the vision but could still see it within his mind and it made him growl. Snapping his eyes open, he sent her a glare that should have had her running for her life but seeing her head toward the darkness beyond the festivities left him with the aching need to follow her.

Her steps where slow as she made her way out of the throng of people. Maybe she was wrong… maybe when the witch was destroyed; the children had simply woken up. It was a nice thought, but she had to see for herself.

Kyoko’s only thought was getting to the hospital. It encompassed all of her attention, making her forget all about tonight being demon night. Even the Halloween festivities were unseen by her as she made her way past them and into the street beyond. She could still hear the bands playing in the distance behind her, but here it was muted and shadowy, almost dream-like… kind of like the way she was feeling.

She hadn’t been any help tonight against the hell hag… she wouldn’t have even survived it if tall, dark, and dangerous hadn’t showed up when he did. Darious… the name echoed within her mind and left her feeling oddly disturbed as places on her body heated up that had no business heating up.

Hearing deep voices nearby, Kyoko glanced up from her musing. A small group of men were standing at the end of the parking lot. As they caught sight of her, the light from the streetlamps reflected in their eyes, in a same way that made Kyoko remember the eeriness of how car headlights reflect off of animals sitting on the side of the road late at night.

The air around them swirled with malicious intent and made the hair on the back of her neck rise in warning… demons, the vampiric kind.

Kyoko smiled at them, feeling like fate was finally going to let her do her part in saving the world tonight. Feeling for the spike that was safely tucked away up her sleeve, she kept walking, watching her own feet as she made her way across the parking lot, pretending she hadn’t noticed them.

Her steps faltered when all of the streetlights within the parking lot went dark simultaneously… making her look up. Standing in front of her was a vampire that put all the Hollywood vamps to shame. His hair was about shoulder length, straight, silky, and darker than sin. His eyes were the color of freshly spilt blood and shone in the darkness around them. His skin nearly glowed and still she thought he was beautiful.

A tingle spread through her entire body and Kyoko bit her bottom lip, realizing she was in trouble when she felt the uncontrollable need to go to him. It had been bad enough that Darious had made her feel feverish, but now a vampire was giving her sex drive another push that made it hard to breathe.

Resisting the pull, she kept her feet planted right where they were… silently thanking Kyou for his personal training in the vampire thrall department.

Kyoko still wondered how he could pull off a vampire thrall and silently compared him to the vampire in front of her. No contest. Kyou was in his own league and had a thrall of his own, without using the powers of persuasion. The first time she had trained with Kyou to learn how to overcome the thrall, he had locked her in her room because she had failed the test and asked him to make love to her. The memory of that mortification was what gave her the strength now.

The vampire stepped forward with a sensual smile on his lips, overwhelming her with his masculine scent and power. The deadly, cold light in his eyes told her that he had to have been older than dust and the guys she had seen a moment before where probably his minions.

She could feel his thrall pulling at her and stared as he held his hand out, silently asking her to come to him. She slipped her hand up her sleeve and stepped forward like a happy meal from McDonalds… smile and all.

Kyoko’s hand flashed out and drove the spike directly into his chest. Arms wrapped around her from behind at the exact moment she staked the vampire, throwing her aim off. She stared in horror, seeing she had imbedded the stake in the wrong side of his chest. Kyoko struggled against the vampire holding her, trying to reach the spike and pull it from him so she could have a second shot.

Managing to get one of her arms free, she growled and wrapped her hand around the weapon. The vampire in front of her wrapped his hand around hers and gripped the stake tight… pulling it out with a sickening sound affect that should only be heard in movies.

Kyoko winced when he forced her fingers open and removed the weapon, tossing it into the darkness. He stepped even closer and gently cupped her cheek. His cold hand moved behind her head and grabbed hold of her auburn hair… pulling her head to the side and exposing her throat to his hungry gaze.

Looking around as much as she could, Kyoko saw the other vampires emerge from the darkness, closing in, intending to make her tonight’s buffet. Could nothing go right tonight?

She felt the master vampire's cold lips caress the skin at the arc of her neck, sending chills across her shoulder and down into her breasts, making them swell and tighten against the silk they were wrapped in. Kyoko whimpered knowing she was losing the game as her thighs went up in flames and she relaxed in his hold… offering herself up to him.

She heard the underlings hiss and glanced up at the one in front of her. His gaze was transfixed on a point behind her and she could see the terror in his inhuman eyes.

The one holding her abruptly let her go and Kyoko scrambled away before looking back. They were all staring into the darkness, transfixed on whatever was there. All of them were twitching, trying to move but something held them immobile. Whether it was fear or something else, Kyoko couldn’t tell.

Kyoko looked in the general direction where her spike had been thrown and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw it gleaming dully in the dim light. Angry with herself because she’d given the monster the power to leave her sexually frustrated, she knew she wouldn’t miss his heart this time.

Running over, she picked it up and returned to the vampire who’d been intent on tasting her first. She drove the stake into his back, piercing the heart. Expecting her target to go poof, she was taken completely off guard when she was blown backwards as they all burst into flames like a small group of bombs.

Kyoko landed hard, hitting her head and elbows on the unforgiving pavement. The brightness of the flames vanished and was replaced by the soft glow of the parking lot lights. She watched the ashes float around like a snowstorm, then sighed in relief as a strange wind cut through the parking lot to carry them away from her. The thought of inhaling vampire was just gross.

She rolled to her side, gripping her elbows that were still smarting from the impact as she fought to keep her eyes open. Her sight tunneled for a second and she knew she’d hit her head harder than she thought.

Painfully lifting a hand to her head, Kyoko started feeling through her hair. As soon as her fingers barely grazed the raised area, she jerked her hand away with a pained whimper. That wasn’t supposed to have happened. How many more times was she going to mess up tonight?

Hoping the throbbing would stop, Kyoko stayed still until a shadow fell over her.

She looked up and almost smiled in relief when she saw Darious standing over her. Those deep, black eyes bored into hers and made her hot and breathless all over again. At the rate she was going, she could almost swear she was in heat and it was starting to really piss her off.

He looked angry with her and she had no clue what she had done to cause it. If her head weren’t hurting so much, she would’ve told him where to put that expression.

Darious locked his legs into place to keep himself from falling to the ground with her. He could still feel the leftover desire within her from the thrall and he gritted his teeth against the pull. Beyond the vampire’s leftovers, he could feel her own desire and it was far more powerful than that of the thrall.

“Go back to your guardians, little girl,” he told her in an unforgiving tone. “You have no business alone out here where things go bump in the night.” Hearing the double-edged blade within his own words made him harden with the temptation.

Kyoko did glare at him this time and tried to lift her head, but groaned when a horrid pain shot through her skull, almost making her pass out.

Darious continued to stare down at her, then growled when he caught the scent of her blood in the air. The already darkened sky instantly became several shades deeper and the air swirled as if a storm was brewing. He could feel his blood boiling from the mere thought of what those vampires could have done to her. Even now… she looked so fragile lying there on the cold ground.

He wanted to bend down and touch her… to hold her. He wanted inside her. He refused the urge because he also felt the barely controllable need to throttle her for putting herself in danger in the first place. Did she care so little for herself that she didn’t think about the consequences of being outnumbered? No wonder the guardians had surrounded her with their protection. She had no sense of self-preservation.

“Humans have no business interfering in such matters,” he said finally and turned to walk away before he gave into his instincts and reached for her.

Kyoko scrambled to her feet, fighting the pain and the urge to pass out. This guy obviously needed to be given a piece of her mind and she was more than happy to give it to him.

“Just who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do?” her chest rose and fell with her anger. “I’ve been doing this for a while now, so I know the dangers. As for humans having no business interfering… maybe you should be the one not interfering. I can survive a vampire bite and the energy drain of a hell hag.”

Nowhere near finished, Kyoko marched right up to him and poked her finger in his chest. “I thank you for saving me, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you or anyone else talk to me like that. That, ‘little girl’, comment you made can be stuck where the sun doesn’t shine, buster.”

Darious watched in fascination as the fire leaped into her eyes. He glanced to the van behind her, imagining what it would feel like to press her against it and lift the skirt of her dress and take her hard, fast, and furious. Feeling like he was losing his mind, Darious once again vanished from her sight.

Kyoko balled her hands into fist at her sides and gave a silent scream realizing she hadn’t told him about the children at the hospital. Stomping her foot to get it out of her system, she growled then continued in the direction she had originally been headed in to start out with.

“Go home my ass,” her pace quickened, “I wouldn’t take that from anyone… much less a complete wiggly-boo stranger who is sweet one minute then Satan the next. Little girl… I’ll show him a little girl,” she continued to rant. “Humans have no business interfering,” she muttered in a deep voice mocking him. “Yeah right, it’s our world too. Freaking jerk!”

Darious followed at a short distance behind her, amusement filling him yet he kept himself alert. The scent of her blood was signaling every demon still hiding in the darkness. Even now he could see shadow demons trailing them… but thanks to him, they wouldn’t come any closer to her.

She continued to walk, muttering to herself and using a few choice words to describe him. He gritted his teeth as the sky opened up and rain started coming down, knowing he was the cause. As her rant continued, he found himself growing annoyed. He already knew she wouldn’t want him near her, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear it coming from her perfect lips.

He stayed silent behind her, following and ensuring her safety though he wasn’t exactly sure why he was doing it. They trekked through the city streets until she suddenly stopped and turned toward the large building next to them.

Darious glanced up and saw they’d stopped in front of the hospital. She started walking again, entering through the emergency room doors. He frowned, wondering if maybe she was hurt worse than he had thought. Following her in, he was surprised when she passed the ER nurses station by and quietly walked through the vacant hallways, almost sneaking in her steps. She pushed a button, and then stepped into an elevator.

Stepping in with her, he gritted his teeth at being so close to her but at least her ranting had stopped. Circling her like the predator he was, Darious noticed a small trail of blood running down her neck from the back of her hair.

Even though they were within the heart of the huge building, he could hear the thunder from the storm outside quickly turning more dangerous. He had a good notion to throw her over his shoulder right then and there, and take her back downstairs where the humans could fix her.

Reaching out, he was intent on doing just that when the doors opened and she took off again. He hadn’t even noticed what floor they were on until she slipped into a darkened room and out of his sight. He heard the beeping of numerous monitors and followed her in just as the door was sliding shut. The silent screams of more than a dozen children suddenly filled his senses.

Kyoko leaned back against the wall and pressed a hand over her heart, feeling it break for what felt like the millionth time that night. She had come here hoping that since the hell hags were dead, that the children would have woken up from their comas.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered with all her heart. “I wish… it had worked.”

Her eyes trailed to the window watching the rain pound against the glass. The thunder crashed loudly and lightening flashed, illuminating the room for a moment and casting shadows across the floor. The misery outside seemed to match the atmosphere in the dim room. She blinked as she reached for the back of her head were the pain from her earlier fall was rapidly getting worse… but it was such a little injury compared to what these children were suffering.

Darious watched a tear fall down her cheek. The light from the glowing monitors made the tear seem like an electric blue crystal teardrop as another one quickly followed it. He silently moved past her into the room and closed his eyes, listening to the souls of the children.

These were victims of the hell hags he had just killed, but it had been too late to save them. He could hear their screams and cries, as they remained lost in the nightmares the demons had left them in. The only reason they had lasted this long was because children’s souls were strong and untainted… helpless, yet powerful in their own way.

It was a bane and a blessing to be a child. They were preyed upon constantly by the darkness because of their purity, yet it was that same purity that made them believe in the stories of heroes coming to rescue them. Darious shook his head… he was no hero.

Lightening flashed again, making the lights go out and Kyoko gasped in the darkness. Just before the lights went out, she could have sworn she’d saw movement. She heard the hospital generators kick on and one by one, the light returned. What she saw made her eyes widen in amazement.

Darious was standing beside the bed of a little boy whose heart monitor echoed dangerously slow. He reached out and gently touched the boy’s forehead. The pace of the monitor sped up, making Kyoko’s heart race with it. She was afraid to move a muscle when he faded in and out of her vision as he went from one bed to the next, touching each child he came to.

To her dismay, he blinked out of sight just as he finished touching the last child.

“Mommy?” she heard a sleepy whisper come from one of the children.

Her breath and heart racing, she quickly stepped out of the shadows to see for herself. A little girl no older than five glanced up at her in confusion, hugging the plushy teddy bear at her side. “Where did the black winged angel go?”

Kyoko shook her head not knowing what to tell her, and then she smiled, “I’ll go find your mommy,” she whispered.

Quickly retreating from the room, she heard footsteps coming down the hall and slipped into a cleaning closet. Keeping the door ajar, she watched through the crack in the door, waiting for the unexpected visitor. A nurse doing her nightly rounds walked around the corner and slowly made her way to the children’s ward entrance. The nurse hugged the clipboard to her chest and took a deep breath before opening the door.

Needing a quiet moment to herself to see if she could get the marching band in her head to stop pounding, Kyoko closed the door and leaned her forehead against it. Peace and quiet… stillness was a godsend after the night she’d had. Leaning against the wall, she rolled so that her back was now in the corner of the small room. She kept her eyes closed as she placed her palms out beside her to keep herself steady as she let her mind wonder over the last couple hours.

Her lips parted and her body burned. She wondered where the fever had come from as she mentally checked her body for more warning signs. She felt extremely week, totally empowered, and oddly aroused… which left her completely disturbed.

Feeling frustrated in more ways than one, she pushed away from the wall and opened her eyes, only to find that she was not alone. He was watching her with a hot, devouring, intense stare. His jaw flexed rigidly as if he were fighting himself. She was struck by the dark moodiness of his features. If that wasn’t clue enough… his fisting hands were.

Had Kyoko been a normal girl, she would have already screamed or ran out of the room as if death were on her heels. Instead, she took a step closer within the small confines of the storage room and calmly gazed up at him… studying him while he was allowing it.

Everything about him screamed danger… until she looked past those sinfully long, dark eyelashes. He seemed so evil… yet she had seen him kill demons and save her along with so many children. Those children thought of him as an angel though his entire demeanor screamed the opposite. It was like he was frozen, even though within his aura there were angry flames licking all around him. Red usually symbolized emotion and she wondered just how much of it he suppressed since his aura was so alive with it.

Kyoko’s eyes softened for an instant, wondering what he would be like if he let the heat in. She suddenly wanted to warm him… just to let him know that not everyone was the enemy.

Darious watched her study him… refusing to give in to the thoughts running rampant through his head. A mental image of her auburn locks spread out over a soft pillow burned its way into his consciousness. That didn’t affect him as much as the vision of her under him.

He inhaled deeply and nearly snarled when her pleasant scent was tainted with that of powerful beings. That flavor did not belong wrapped around her so tightly… as if to keep him out. The guardians had marked their territory, but if he wanted to… he could override their scent with his own.

Kyoko watched the emotions play within his eyes. Obviously, he wasn’t as cold as he liked others to believe. Her powers reached for him, wanting her to know the truth. He felt more besides anger, but it was trapped behind those eyes. She continued to bravely stare him down, not looking away from his eyes. He would not intimidate her, if that were his true goal.

For all her courage, she still flinched when he spoke.

“Why are you with the guardians?” Darious demanded with an irrational feeling of jealousy. He had already talked to her more than any other human as far back as he could remember. The newness of it was addictive and made him feel unstable. He wanted to do so much more than just talk.

“Guardians?” Kyoko whispered as she frowned, remembering him telling her to go back to her guardians when he had saved her from the vampires in the parking lot. “Are you talking about the people I work with?”

“People?” Darious took a step forward not caring that she was backing up. Was she trying to keep them a secret from him? “What gives the guardians the right to have you? What hold do they have over you?”

Kyoko inhaled at the fierce look in his eyes and took a step back when he started toward her. What did he mean? Her lips parted seeing that he was still coming closer with determined strides and she quickly backed up again, trying to keep some distance between her and the anger she could feel coming off him.

She whimpered softly when she backed against the wall and he placed his hands on the wall beside both of her shoulders to keep her trapped in place. Kyoko was awestruck as they locked gazes. He made her heady with desire and for the second time in an hour, her thighs went up in flames, causing a slow blush to stain her cheeks.

Remembering his strange question, she asked in confusion, “What gives whom the right to have me? No one has me.” She watched his lips come dangerously close to hers and she wondered what they would feel like against hers.

Darious held onto the wall… pushing and pulling at it within the same breath. He knew what desire was. He had desired to break out of his bondage… and he’d torn a hole in hell to do it. He had felt desire to kill demons for as long as he could remember… and he’d killed thousands. Because of those desires… he’d held nothing back.

Now there was a new desire and he could feel it in every cell of his body. This wasn’t a thirst he could quench by spilling blood. This was a battle he’d never fault and had no weapons for. In order to fight a war against evil… he had become fury itself. How could fury touch something so soft and breakable? Still… he had never been one to hold back.

Kyoko forgot to breathe as he dipped lower and placed his lips against the tenderness of her neck. She felt cold chills and a mega hot flash war against each other as he inhaled long and slowly, as if breathing her in before moving around to the other side and doing it again. It was like she could feel his hands all over her, but he wasn’t touching her. Something warned her that if he did touch her, she would never be the same.

The most frightening thing was that some part of her wanted him to touch her… and that part was waking up with a vengeance.

“I can smell them on you… they have all left their mark,” Darious whispered in a ragged voice. He had never wanted anything, not even a decent place to rest, as he wandered the world tracking demons. Material things had never haunted him, as it seemed to haunt the humans. He did not sleep, nor did he ever feel hunger… until now. He hungered for her like a starving man hungers for a king’s feast.

Kyoko leaned back as far as she could to look up at him in wonder. The things he said didn’t make sense to her, but he showed no confusion as he said them. Her head pounded and she wondered if the confusion wasn’t hers as she felt herself starting to sway. Her breathing sped up as she realized she was about to pass out and she tried with all her might to fight it.

Not knowing what else to do, she tried to wrap her arms around him as she felt her body start to slide down the wall. Thankfully, she lost consciousness before she could hit the floor.

Darious slid his hand through the back of her hair to cradle her head and wrapped his other arm around her body as he caught her against him. He instantly growled, feeling the wetness against his palm… blood from the injury she had stubbornly ignored. The same injury that he had unintentionally inflicted on her when he’d blown up the vampires that had been intent on hurting her. He hadn’t meant for it to backfire in such a way.

Sliding to the floor with her, he pulled her onto his lap and withdrew his hand from her hair to see the crimson evidence smeared across his palm. His chest ached while he held her, realizing it was the first time he had ever held anyone in his arms except during a fight to the death.

Not wanting to relinquish his hold on her so the human doctors could heal her, Darious decided his way would be swifter. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to hers as they both vanished from the room.

An orderly was walking the halls on his way to the nurse’s station. Passing the door of the storage closet, he stopped and stared at the electric blue glow that started shining from around all the edges of the door, including the keyhole. It cast a soft glow in the dim hall, giving the orderly's comfortable walk an eerie sensation.

With a shaking hand, the orderly reached for the doorknob and let the door swing open just as the light faded. Seeing the small room was empty, except for the normal shelves of supplies, he flipped the light switch just inside the entry. When it didn’t come on, he quickly closed the door figuring someone had forgotten to turn off the light and it’d blown out.

He released a small sigh of relief then almost jumped out of his skin when a nurse came running out of the children’s ward. Thinking something was wrong, the man grabbed her by the arm as she started to run past him.

“Are the children okay?” he quickly asked.

She looked up at him with tears of happiness falling from her eyes. “They woke up… the children… awake… all of them,” she stammered then ran down the hall to her station to call the doctors.