Black Winged Angel

Chapter 3

Quickly turning away from him to hide her blush, Kyoko gazed out the large window that overlooked the busy city street. Sometimes living in this building could be really hard on a girl’s heart… not to mention her hormones.

Feeling chills going up the back of her neck, she knew she couldn’t run away so she tried to just let her mind roam. She looked across the street toward the row of buildings facing this one… wishing she were in one of them instead… at least until last night's teen-angst blew over.

Her lips parted as she noticed a man directly across the road from her. It seemed like he was looking straight at her, but she knew that couldn’t be because of the tint used on the glass… you could see out but not in. Kyoko stepped closer to the window and placed one hand against the tinted glass just beside her vision of him.

The man embodied stillness, while everything around him moved in a hurried pace. There was a calm serenity to him that was both beguiling and frightening. Somewhere deep inside her mind, she knew it was a lie… he was the one moving and everything else was standing still in his presence.

He was wearing dark sunglasses, with a long black trench coat that was open enough that she could see the sheer tight shirt underneath. He had the body of a Greek God and his face was flawless, even though his long dark hair was shadowing most of it. Something about him screamed danger and s*x all at the same time. He looked like he belonged somewhere in the dark ages with the dragons and wizards.

An abrupt vision of him kneeling nude and bloody, with chains around his wrists, ankles, and neck… in some long forgotten underground cavern, burst forward in her mind, making her want to cry out in anguish. Kyoko could feel herself crawling through rivers of blood toward him… wanting to save him. Literally felt it sliding against her skin and weighing down her clothing.

Frowning as the feelings and image faded, Kyoko leaned closer to the glass and had the distinct impression that she was actually trying to get closer to him instead.

Darious felt something invading his space and narrowed his gaze past his own reflection in the mirrored glass, seeing the girl watching him. Usually humans would look away as soon as they noticed him, unless they were innocent… children. He had never understood it, but children never feared him. His dark eyes caressed the girl curiously, knowing she was not a child.

She had long, beautiful auburn hair that was neither straight nor curly, but had a life of its own. As he sharpened his vision, he could see glittering emerald eyes surrounded by sinfully dark lashes. The way she was watching him in morbid fascination made his blood heat up and that confused him.

He growled when the sun suddenly disappeared behind dark clouds. Humans had never interested him… just demons, and then only long enough for him to track them down and kill them. The instant she turned from the window, Darious wrapped himself in power, making himself invisible.

“Kyoko, have you heard a word I have been saying?” Suki asked well aware she’d just spent the last few minutes talking to herself.

Kyoko flinched and turned to look at her best friend behind the desk. “Oh… Umm… Huh?” She blinked, “What was the question?” Seeing a shadow to her right, she glanced at Kyou’s office door and relaxed seeing he had once again vanished.

Suki shook her head, “I said we have the morning meeting upstairs in five minutes.” She picked up a stack of papers and came around the desk as Kyoko turned back to the window. “What were you looking at so hard anyway?” she asked.

Kyoko’s shoulders slumped seeing the stranger was no longer there. She bit her bottom lip wondering at the disappointment. “I’m looking for a taxi so I can escape the meeting.” She winked at Suki.

“Yeah well, if I didn’t love you, I would have killed you when the mother of all f**k bombs rattled the windows last night. Besides, it really gave me some good pictures to post on the internet. You should have seen the look on Kotaro’s face when he realized he’d shot the TV… I’ll show you later.”

Seeing Kyoko’s attention wander across the street again, she placed her hands on Kyoko’s shoulders and turned her toward the elevator. “Come on… it’s time to face up to your terrorism.”

“Terrorism?” Kyoko defended guiltily. “What do you call what they constantly do to me… civilized?”

Suki giggled and pushed Kyoko into the elevator. “Get up there, and if there’s any screaming… make sure it’s them doing it.”

Darious glanced up at the name printed on the glass above where the girl had been standing… ‘Paranormal Investigations.’ He closed his eyes, feeling his way through the building and clenched his teeth as his power came across old souls. He inhaled as he found hers nearing the top floor of the building. She was headed directly into the grouping of souls that were tainted with things not human… nor where they demon.

He opened his ebony eyes just as the rain started, the sidewalk becoming wet, except for were his invisible body was standing.

Was that why she was watching him with such interest, because she was linked to all things paranormal? He let his power ride her soul one more time as he searched for demonic presence within her aura. For several heartbeats, his power surrounded her and he could feel her life force rise up and look directly at him.

That’s when he heard it… an echo of soft crying he could barely remember hearing over the sound of his own tortured screams. The only time he had ever heard that sound was the moment the chains of eternity had broken. He had left the sound behind as he’d fought his way out of the pit and it had tugged on his memory many times. The closer he’d come to this city… the more the memory had begun haunting him.

What was it about this cry that made his chest tighten now and not centuries before when it would have mattered? Why did it suddenly matter now? Darious shook his head becoming annoyed. He couldn’t change the past, so why dwell on it?

Just as Kyoko opened the door to the room where everyone was waiting, she felt like someone put their arms around her and she drew in a sharp breath. Turning to her right, she looked up into darkness. Within that darkness was the same face she had seen across the street… this time without sunglasses. It was his eyes that held her in fascination… they were the strangest color of swirling silver with a hint of icy blue highlights.

Kyou turned toward the door, feeling Kyoko’s approach but the strange look on her face forced him into action. He rushed forward and caught her before she fell. Sensing something uninvited touching her besides him, it was his warning growl that dispersed the supernatural power from around her.

It left her in an angry wave just as thunder rattled the windows from the oncoming storm. Kyou narrowed his golden eyes as he swept her up possessively in his arms and laid her gently on the sofa with everyone looking on. As they all surged forward, he held his hand up, commanding them to stay back.

Darious withdrew and opened his eyes, looking up at the top floor of the building. He could still feel the heat of her soul and it was the first time he had been warm as far back as he could remember. It had also been a long time since he had been shoved by another’s power.

He gave a cold and wicked smile as he vanished. The dry spot on the pavement turned darker as the sky opened up in a downpour.

Chapter 2 “Dangerous Myths”

Kyoko’s hearing came back before she even opened her eyes. When she heard Shinbe’s voice announce that she must be pregnant, her eyes quickly shot open and she pinned him with a death stare.

“I…” she was immediately cut off when Toya pulled her into his arms and half crushed her against him.

“Don’t do that! You about gave me a freakin’ heart attack.” He held her tight till he remembered everyone was watching. A tick started in his jaw, knowing what was coming.

“Aww, how sweet,” Kamui smirked, “Toya’s all lovey on Kyoko. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Toya let go of Kyoko so fast that she fell back against the arm of the sofa. “You’re gonna have my fist in your face if you don’t shut up, brat.” He growled, but his expression softened again as he stepped back and looked down at Kyoko as she sat up. “What I meant to say is… what are you trying to do, finish the heart attack you started last night?”

“Keep it up and I just might,” Kyoko said with a smirk directed at Toya. “Then I’ll go hide in Kyou’s room.”

“Why would you hide in there?” Toya asked, feeling instant jealousy.

Kyoko sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. Toya was intelligent, but sometimes if it weren’t for his looks… she’d swear he was mentally five.

“Because Kyou has nerd proof wards on his door,” Kamui supplied without looking up from his new laptop, which he was keeping far away from Toya.

Toya growled and spun around to face the youngest of the group. “Keep it up Kamui, and I’ll bring your whole computer system crashing down on you.”

“This coming from the man that doesn’t even know where the enter key on a keyboard is?” Kamui asked with one eyebrow arched. “I’m surprised you even know where the power button is on a monitor.”

Toya leaned toward him, “I wasn’t talking about the hard drive.” His lips hinted at a wicked smile when Kamui gripped the laptop tighter and cringed.

“Enough!” Kyou said, his voice echoing his authority. “Everyone take a seat. Kyoko, you may stay on the sofa if you wish, and no Toya… she is not sharing it.” He leveled his brother an irritated glare.

Toya started grumbling about certain men with sticks and microchips up their asses before plopping down in Kyou’s chair. Kyou stared at him with the deadpan expression for which he was famous. When the silver-haired man felt a small tug on his hand, he looked down at Kyoko, who moved her feet so Kyou could sit on the other end of the sofa.

Kotaro and Yohji sniggered as Kyou took the invitation and sat down, resting Kyoko’s feet on his lap.

“As you are all aware, tonight is Halloween,” Kyou began.

“Duh!” Toya muttered, trying not to glare at Kyoko’s feet touching his brother.

“Which means,” Kyou continued while glaring at Toya. “Tonight, there will be increased activity. Pagan rituals will go wrong as usual, and the increased paranormal activity will escalate as well. All of us will be on high alert for the next twenty-four hours. Considering that Halloween parties will last longer into the night, being it’s Saturday… I believe you all get the idea.”

“Yeah, yeah, we got it.” Toya exclaimed. “Whoa, watch out for naked women running down the street being chased by lesbian gang bangers, ooh!”

“Where?” Shinbe asked loudly, having not paid much attention to anything since Suki had walked in.

Kyou massaged the space above his eyebrows as he felt a slight pressure building. He and his brothers hid their powers well from the world, but sometimes he wondered if they had not regressed a bit too much. They had been sent here to keep Kyoko safe without her knowledge and to rid the world of as many demons as they could. He’d set up the agency as soon as he had realized what her choice career had been.

Kotaro spoke up, “The police department has assigned my squad to the town square tonight because of the overload on the police force. Other cops will be there off and on because last year, the block parties didn’t die down till dawn and several people went missing that night.”

Kamui nodded, flipping his laptop around to show everyone. “Guys, we have a witch in town.”

“Here’s a news flash kid… tonight we have a lot of witches in town,” Yohji smirked. “Some of them sexier than others.”

“Those witches aren’t sucking the life out of little children,” Kamui pointed to a list of names in the children’s ward of the hospital. “All of these kids are in comas, and it has all taken place within the last week. The doctors are stumped, because in every case, the kids were out after dark and all the tests they have run are showing no injuries. They simply won’t wake up.”