80. Man-Made Hell

[Sinclair]

"What is this contraption?" Rafferty gasped as I led him to the truck in the garage, stopping in the doorway to eye my vehicle suspiciously. *'Wow, I thought I was clueless when I was released from my imprisonment, but that's nothing compared to how much Rafferty has missed. Hmm, perhaps I am at fault for the argument? Even in my human years, most disputes between men were settled with our hands, so I can only imagine what it was like when he walked this earth. Yes, I must try to remember that he is entirely new to this world, and so it is our obligation to at least help him readjust.'*

"It is a truck. We need the storage in the back to carry the lumber and tools we will need to rebuild the wall." I responded as I held the passenger side door open, motioning for him to sit, then walked around to the driver's side, watching Rafferty as he took everything in. I waited a few moments for him to get over his shock, then turned the key into the ignition, smiling when I saw him whip his head up to look at me, his eyes glowing a bit brighter when he heard the purring engine.

"I knew that the world would be changed, as it should in such a time, but I could never have expected these things." He mumbled as I pulled out of the driveway, trying to take everything in at once as we drove down the road.

"There is much in this world that will surprise you," I agreed as I pressed on the accelerator, driving as quickly into town as I could, as I didn't want to keep Rafferty away from Maeve for any longer than I needed to. *'I cannot believe I am worried about him. You'd think I would drive slowly to make sure he turns back into a statue, make him suffer in the only way I know how, but alas, I cannot. I know all too well what imprisonment feels like, and I could not begin to understand what it was like for Rafferty.'*

"You speak as if you are a man who knows what it is like?" He asked as he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched out of the windshield, then turned around to look in the cab. "I did not know gadgets such as this could exist, but if I could have, I never would have thought they'd look so beautiful, in its own sense.

"Not to the same degree as you by far, but yes, I was imprisoned for a few decades. The word changed a lot during those years, and I found it difficult to navigate this new world I was suddenly in." I responded with a nod, then smiled softly as I thought about the gorgeous woman that slept in my arms at night, unable to stop my thoughts from turning to her. "It was actually Maeve who showed me how to navigate this world. We wanted to travel together, all over this earth, before-" I started to say, but cut myself off as I didn't want to say the words. *'Before we broke up, of course.'*

"I know that you do not like me, and I don't much like you either, but out of respect for you, I will tell you this. Maeve is what's allowing you to grow so close to the next step of your evolution, and so I would suggest staying by her side for as long as she'll allow you."

"Are you saying that I'll turn into whatever is past recreants if I continue to date Maeve?" I asked, raising an eyebrow with a scoff of amusement. *'Maeve has been hiding something from me, and I know she has been upset nearly all day, but she will not tell me what has her in such a mood. The way she's been looking at me all day is almost like the way she was looking at me when I told her I was a recreant. Fuck, she's going to break up with me, isn't she?'*

"That is what I am saying, yes. Sinclair, I want to say this now, man to man. I do not have any desires towards Maeve, and after considering it for a while, I see now that I was out of line by what I said previously. I was only stating the factual truth, but I understand why it came across as a threat to you."

"As Maeve said, we were both the antagonizers in that argument, so I apologize for how I reacted as well," I responded with a nod before turning my attention onto the road ahead of us, pulling into the parking lot of the nearest home improvement store, pointing to the door handle on Rafferty's side, showing him how to draw the handle to open the door.

"What is this?" Rafferty gasped as he stepped out of the truck, watching a woman as she walked past us, pushing a cart filled with bags, and a small child sitting in the front. As we walked towards the front doors, Rafferty's head was on a swivel, looking at all of the curious things surrounding us.

"I have become so used to this that I've forgotten how off-putting it was to me when I saw of these new things as well. We will need a cart." I said, motioning to the cart rack, chuckling as I watched Rafferty retrieve one. He pushed it towards me, watching curiously as the wheels propelled it forward, then shook his head before walking alongside me into the store.

"I cannot decide if these are improvements that you mortals have made or earthbound damnation of your own creation," Rafferty commented as he watched a couple walk past us, staring down at their screens, not paying attention to where they were walking, and slammed into another couple who was doing the same.

"Our own personal hell is what I've always thought of it. This generation is one born with technology in their hands, and they rarely pull them away from their faces long enough to see the world before them."

"It must make hunting much easier for you and your kind." He asked as we stopped to inspect a few wood sheets, then picked a few up and set them in the cart, making our way towards the tools we would need as we continued to converse.

"I mean no offense when I ask this, as it is out of pure curiosity. You didn't mean to kill Leena, did you?" I asked him after picking out a box of nails, handing it to him, watching him as I waited for his response.

"I did not, no. I did not have time to adjust to my newfound abilities when I was cast into the earth. Now that I am free, I am finding out what they are, but it seems to be in the worst of ways. How did you know?"

"Because I'm watching Maeve go through the same thing. Most of the time, she doesn't realize that she's releasing dark energy or hurting someone until it's too late. The first time she did it, Leena made her mad, and she disintegrated most of Lucifer's table." I responded with a chuckle as we walked towards the checkout lanes, ignoring the women who stopped to stare at us.

"Have mortals no sense of shame anymore?" Rafferty growled under his breath as he watched a woman that was staring at him for a moment before looking back at me, raising an eyebrow when I started chuckling. "I'm sorry, did you just say Lucifer?"

"Yes, that is Damien's given name. I apologize. I am used to calling him Lucifer, as that is what I knew him as when he was human."

"Hmm, I believe it is called irony that the vampire king's given name is Lucifer?" He asked with a chuckle as we made our way out to the truck, helping me load the tools and lumber into the truck's bed before getting in and starting the drive back to my house. "Is it quite alright if I ask how old you are, Sinclair?"

"I suppose it isn't, no. Physically? I'm thirty-eight. In actuality, I was born in the late 1600s, making me nearly three-hundred and thirty. Now that I say it out loud, I realize that being in my three-hundreds is nothing, seeing as how Lucifer is nearly two-hundred and seventy, I believe. Yes, I was in my sixth decade when I turned him."

"I hope you don't mind, but how do you keep Maeve's power under control? Is there a system you use?" Rafferty asked after a few moments of silence, turning to look at me curiously; his glowing white eyes narrowed as he watched me.

"Maeve has gone through years of therapy, and so she learned exercises to calm herself, as her past abuse has left her prone to anxiety attacks. I do not think she would have any issues with showing you a few of them once she's had the time to calm down and is no longer angry towards us." I said as I pulled into the garage, looking to my left where Maeve was mostly hidden by the trees, sitting cross-legged at the end of the pier, looking out across the water.

*'She's been like this almost all day. Lost in her thoughts, and angry at me for some reason. Of course, Maeve isn't the type to bring things up until we're alone, but she also isn't the type to pull me to the side. She's going to wait until we are alone to tell me whatever it is that has her like this.'* I thought, watching Maeve for a few moments, trying to ignore the welling of my heart, as the longer I thought about it, the more upset it was making me.

"She does not look as if she would take kindly to being interrupted, and as for now, I have built enough strength to stand on my own, but I do not know how long that strength will last until it depletes itself."

"We need that saw and two hammers," I said, pointing to the two spots on the workbench where the tools were before carrying the wood to the side of the house where the kitchen wall used to be. "I cannot believe I am saying these words, but Rafferty, if you'll use your wings, we won't need a ladder."

"Very well, then," Rafferty responded with a knowing smile as his wings ripped through the shirt I'd given him, making me sigh softly. *'I should not have given him a shirt I liked, as I knew I likely wouldn't be getting it back.'*

Rafferty and I worked in mostly silence, paused only when I would need to explain to him how to do something or ask him to hold the top piece of the wood in place. Our silence was broken as Maeve came out, bringing out two tall glasses of lemonade, motioning for Rafferty to come back to the ground, as he was sitting on the roof, securing the top half of the wood.

"You two are getting this done way faster than I thought you would have," Maeve said with an approving nod as she gave me a quick peck on the cheek, handing me one of the glasses before offering the other to Rafferty.

"What is this substance? I like it," Rafferty asked after taking a hesitant sip of the lemonade, giving a small noise of approval before he tilted the glass back to down all of it.

"Lemonade," Maeve responded as she ran a hand along the wall, testing it before turning to look at the two of us. She narrowed her eyes as she watched us, looking back and forth between us suspiciously for a long few moments before she finally spoke. "The two of you seem to be getting along?"

"We are trying our best to, yes," I responded with a nod as I took a drink of the lemonade before setting it down on a nearby tree stump. "Where's everyone gone?"

"Alaric and Mercy went to buy a house to live in once their paperwork has cleared. Bast, Damien, and the wee ones went home to shower and change. Sam and Samantha, well, I don't know where those two have run off to, but I'm willing to bet they will be coming back soon, as Sammy really wants to know more about Raffey, here." Maeve responded with a grin, motioning to Rafferty as he crouched down, then jumped up, sitting back on the roof to look down at us. Though he was wearing jeans and what was left of one of my good shirts, the sight of the man with glowing eyes and pitch-black wings staring down at us sent a chill through my spine as I watched him.

"Why do the two of you not go on the travels you wish to embark on?" Rafferty finally asked, making me smile softly. *'He must not see how Maeve has been looking at me all day. I doubt she wishes to go anywhere with me.'*

"What do you mean, Raffey? We can't just leave," Maeve responded, motioning to the house with a shrug.

"Why not? From what I've gathered while I've been here, the vampire king and his bride will be ruling over the vampires. The elder and his bride will be switching to this continent to run it. The girl, Samantha, will be working alongside the gray-eyed elder while Sam runs this continent. Have I gotten anything wrong?"

"No, you haven't. I know Lucifer and Alaric mentioned being the king and the elder, but how did you know that Sam was an elder and that Samantha would be going with Alaric and Mercy?" I asked him with a chuckle as I tossed up a handful of nails, watching as he used his right-wing to catch them. "I did not know you could use your wings for more than flight?"

"Yes, they can be used for many a thing. Angels were taught to use our wings to our every advantage, in anything we do. Whether that be using it as extra hands, to gain the upper hand in a fight that may not be fair, and the opponent does not have wings, or does not know how to use them such as we do. Our wings are not just decoration or for flight. They are as much use to me as my hands are, not to mention the many uses of my feathers."

"Oi, what do you mean, your feathers? I get everything you mean about using your wings; I mean, I can see that you have full control over them." Maeve asked Rafferty, watching him curiously for a moment before turning to look at me.

"An angel's feathers are both their most deadly weapons and our biggest power advantage. Whether that power is of light or dark nature, it does not matter." Rafferty responded as he stood and shifted his shoulders back and forth, staring out into the forest to the left side of the house, as the woods directly in front of him was nothing but a mass of purple ash and scorch marks. I watched as the feathers lining the arch of his wings stood on edge, pointing in the direction Rafferty was watching. The shape of the feathers gleaming with a purple haze before they launched forward like rockets, raining down on the forest, each feather cutting like a thousand swords, turning about three miles of trees into firewood in a matter of seconds.

"Your feathers are like razors? Is that why you wouldn't let Ciaran have one?" Maeve asked after gaping at the sudden abundance of firewood spanning miles to our left, then looked back at the roof to watch Rafferty as he sat back down, turning his attention back to the wall.

"No, they are more than blades. They have several properties, just as my wings themselves do. Those children have a power within them that I have never witnessed, and one feather holds enough power to raze this entire continent, should they be able to use it as I do."

"You believe that the twins have the power to use your feather, should they get one? When your feathers fell off in the tunnels, they turned to ash. Would the same thing not happen if you were to pluck one?" I asked him as I joined him in working on the wall, aligning the next plank as I waited for his response.

"My feathers turned to ash because I was no longer alive, not in the sense as you mortals. If I were to give one to the children, it would remain alive for as long as I do. It is something angels used to do for their seconds when they were coming to the earth or going off to fight the demons. We would give them one of our feathers, as it would only turn to ash if we do."

"That's really cool. So, angels have elders just like vampires?" Maeve asked as she came to help me, drilling the screws into place while I held the board.

"No, not like vampires. Some angels are still in training or have not been cleared to battle, so they remained behind. Most of the stronger angels would take someone under their wing to train them personally. They are not elders, more like mentors."

"I know it was not your intention to do so, but you did not respond to my question as to how you knew about Samantha and Sam." I reminded him softly, taking a step back to look at the now completed wall, ensuring everything was straight before gathering the spare siding I'd kept in the second garage.

"There is not a specific reason, but I could tell. When we talked about Damien's blood, Sam gave me the impression that he'd been turned by Damien, telling me that they were close friends. Based on Damien's stance in this world and how quickly he rose to his position, Sam knew all too well what he was talking about, and so I gathered that he rose as quickly as Damien did, at his side. If he rose to power alongside Damien, he would hold a position very close to him. Deductive reasoning says that he is the elder to the king, and you've proved my theories right. As for Samantha, it was gathered in the same ways. Her body language, the emotions in her eyes, who she looked at when certain things were said."

"You figured all of that out by watching them? My god, your kind is a terrible thing to piss off or stand in the way of. It almost seems unfair that you two exist." I snorted with a laugh, then held up a finger when I saw the way both Maeve and Rafferty were glaring at me. "I did not mean it in that way. It was meant as a compliment."

"Maeve and I have our weaknesses, just as any other creature. With your age, Sinclair, I'd think you've seen a lot of different things through the years. If you consider what you've seen and what you know is out there, compared to the two of us, you'd see that the scales still do not gather in our favor." Rafferty responded with a small laugh as he jumped off of the roof to help us start on the siding.

"We have our weaknesses? I thought you said nothing could kill us?" Maeve asked as she began handing us the siding, grinning as I started using my recreant speed to screw them into place.

"We could kill each other." He responded as he looked up at her, raising an eyebrow before smiling softly. "Recall what I said about angel wings? They can contain the full power of the angel whom it belongs to if there is a being strong enough to call upon it and survive the almost insurmountable power that will course through their being."

"Oh, I get it. If someone has a feather, or maybe the whole damn wing, or something else of an angel that they can use against us, that would be enough to kill us? This is something I've been curious about, but where do anodyne or fallen go when they die, since we don't go to the faever- I mean, island."

"When we truly die, we die. Since we were born of heaven, our souls will return there, never to return to this plane of existence, should our mortal bodies perish forever. Leena did not go into the faeverse because I didn't only kill her mortal shell, I killed her soul. That dark power that we have inside of us, it does not only kill the body, but it also kills everything contained within it." Rafferty responded, his eyes dimming until the light in them was nearly extinguished.

*'He truly regrets what he did, just as I thought. He's more like Maeve than any of us realized at first, as neither of them knows how to control this new power they have. Rafferty did say that he was cast into the earth when he fell, so, while he's been there for millennia, he's had no time to adjust to his new dark power.'*

"Oh my god, you didn't just kill Leena, but you ended her very existence?" Maeve gasped, her hazel eyes going wide in pain and terror as she dropped the siding she was holding, taking a few steps back as her heart began pounding as if it was trying to break out of her chest.

"Maeve, he didn't mean to," I said, holding my hands up in a show of surrender as I took a step towards her. "He doesn't know how to control his dark power. He asked me how you kept yourself in check, and I told him that you might be able to teach him some calming exercises. They may not work for him, but I figured while he's here, the two of you could help each other learn to control it."

"You were technically dead, so you haven't felt those abilities until you came back. I should have realized that before. I'm sorry." Maeve said with a sigh as she crossed to Rafferty, trying to find the words to explain, but couldn't seem to find any no matter how hard she tried.

"You do not need to apologize to me, Maeve. I am as horrified with myself as you are. Does the same thing happen to you? It is as if the power completely takes over your being, and you have no choice but to sit back and watch until it's had its fun and went back into its cave?"

"I- Aye. It's scary how strong it is, and it only gets stronger the madder you are. You must have been pissed when you heard her name then, huh?"

"I wish I could deny that, but I cannot. I suppose I did not forgive her quite as much as I thought I had, or at least as much as I told myself I had. What I did not tell you is that she is the reason I am fallen. Because she hid her daughter away, no one knew of what I did. She called on me and told me of her daughter, as she thought I'd be able to save her damned soul. I loved her but could not allow a creature that we did not believe could exist to continue to exist. We'd seen and dealt with the vampires she'd created, but we believe it was the doing of the demons, so when I heard of her existence, it was my duty to end it. As a way to stop me before I could tell anyone or harm the child, she told them of what I'd done, bringing her back to life."

"Oh, shit." I gasped when I heard what he'd said, shaking my head in disbelief. "It makes sense why you were upset by the mention of her name. You've been trapped for thousands of years, while she is the one who had you trapped and she continued on, building up an entire world of the fae."

"That's why you're going to the island as soon as you gather your strength? You aren't worried that she might have something planned to kill you? Or, maybe, she's not upset with you anymore and still loves you? No, that doesn't make any sense. If she really knew that you'd kill Leena, then she's definitely still mad." Maeve asked as we finished on the outside of the wall, then walked into the house to begin working on the inside of it.

"You believe that is true just as much as I do." Rafferty snorted as he glared at Maeve for a long few moments, then helped me move the kitchen table and chairs out of the way. "But you've dodged the question. What is stopping the two of you from going on your own, and doing the things that you wish to do, together? In less than a fortnight, your group will be separating, to go about their separate lives. Their jobs are on this continent, while you two don't have anything tying you here."

"What if something happens to someone, and I could have helped them or saved them?" Maeve blurted out, tears gathering in her eyes as she shook her head and walked around the counter, making a pot of coffee as an excuse not to look up at either of us.

*'Could this be the reason that she's been upset all day? No, that isn't it. It may have something to do with it, but it is only a small part of what's truly bothering her.'* I thought as I watched her, casting a glance to Rafferty as I handed him the drill, then pulled the coffee pot out of her hands, sighing as I picked her up and set her on the counter in front of me. "Maeve, I understand why you feel that way. You think that because you have the power to heal, that it's your obligation to protect us?"

"I cannot believe that I am suggesting an angel mark demons, but if you truly feel like you must protect them, it may be that you have already marked them," Rafferty said as he sat the drill down on the countertop, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked between Maeve and me.

"What do you mean?" Maeve asked, looking at me, then at Rafferty curiously.

"I am just as confused by his words as you are, Maeve." I chuckled as I turned to look at him, searching his eyes to try and find the answer, but I had no choice but to wait until he told us.

"I can hear one of those metal beasts approaching, so I believe your friends are joining us once more. I will wait to explain it to them as well." Rafferty said he took the pot off the counter and poured the water into the reservoir, watching Maeve as he began scooping the grounds into the pot, waiting for one of us to tell him to stop.

"Don't be acting a bloody maggot!" Maeve exclaimed with a small laugh as she scooted over on the counter, pushing his arm to make him move so that she could measure the coffee out.

"Oh, I was not expecting that, but it seems like a good sign," Bast said with a hesitant laugh as she, Azeneth, and Ciaran came into the kitchen. "Maeve is laughing, you know, after the way the two of you were acting earlier." She added when she saw the confusion the three of us were sharing, as neither Rafferty nor Maeve understood what Bast was referring to.

"Hmm, Sinclair, would you mind if I retrieved myself a new shirt?" Rafferty said after watching Bast for a few moments, shaking his head at her before looking back at me.

"By all means, help yourself."

"Wheres the rest of the group?" Maeve asked Bast as she jumped off of the counter and moved the table back into its place before setting the chairs back out.

"Damien is outside on the phone about some paperwork. Alaric and Mercy, I have no idea. Sam and Samantha were exploring your tunnels, the last I heard."

"My tunnels? They've been here this entire time?" I asked with a laugh before walking to the tunnel entrance underneath the stairs, snorting in amusement when I saw that it was wide open, and I hadn't noticed it previously. "Alastair, are you still down here?" I called into the tunnels, turning my ear to the tunnel to hear if he responded from its depths.

"Yes, we're coming out," Sam responded with a laugh. A few seconds later, I stepped to the side as Sam and Samantha ran past me and into the hallway, both of them reeking of sex and dirt. *'I suppose that's as good a use of the tunnels as any,'* I thought with a chuckle as I moved the doorway back into place and walked into the kitchen where Rafferty was working on the wall and had nearly finished.

"I heard you say that you'd be waiting until we all arrived to tell us something?" Damien asked as he walked into the kitchen, putting his phone in his pocket on the inside of his jacket as he looked up at Rafferty, waiting.

"Yes, I said that I believe Maeve has laid her claim on your group, and this is why she feels obligated to stay nearby you and protect you all." Rafferty agreed over his shoulder before setting the drill-down and turning around to face the rest of us. "Not all, but some of the earthbound angels are tied to a family or a group. These markings on my arm, are not tattoos as I'm sure you've assumed them to be. It wasn't until Sinclair and I went into town that I saw that most humans have these now. They are my mark, my brand. Each angel has an individual symbol that imprints on both them and the people they mark, to signify that they belong to that angel."

"When you say that we belong to Maeve, what exactly do you mean?" Alaric asked as he and Mercy walked into the kitchen holding hands. He nodded his hello to us before leading Mercy to sit next to Maeve while he sat next to her.

"Not belong to in the same sense of possession, belong to in the sense of guarded by. An angel can choose a person, family, or group to wear their crest, which signifies to any who know of it that you are under the protection of an angel. My crest was cast while I was an angel, and not a fallen, so mine is black, whereas Maeve's would likely be purple." Rafferty responded as he rolled up his shirt's sleeve to show us the spiral designs that spanned his arm's full length.

"It looks like it's moving," Azeneth whispered as she leaned forward to get a better look at the spiral design, using her index finger to trace the outline, gasping out as it wriggled away from her touch.

"It is not a tattoo, it is known as the celestial crest, and yes, it moves," Rafferty responded with a nod, giving Azeneth and Ciaran a few moments to play with his arm before pulling it back to his side.

"Wait a second, it's not just moving," I said as I leaned forward to get a better look at it, watching it for a few moments before leaning back in my chair with a chuckle. "It's rhythmic, like a heartbeat. Slow and steady. It moves in unison with the heartbeat of the person you have marked, doesn't it?"

"Correct," Rafferty responded with a nod of respect and agreement, smiling softly to me before looking around the group, waiting for the questions he thought would be pouring in.

"I mean no offense when I ask this, but what would be the point in having Maeve do that? I don't think very many people know about angels, so the mark would mean nothing to them if they saw it." Samantha finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"It is not there so that others can be warned to stay away. It is a beacon of sorts to make sure your guardian angel can always find you. If we were to say, as an example, while you, Alaric, and Mercy are out doing whatever it is that you will be doing, and somehow you get trapped and can't find a way out, you could use that crest to tell Maeve that you're in danger, and she will be able to come to you, no matter where you are. The mark of an angel gives you heightened abilities, more so than the ones you have now."

"Heightened abilities meaning what?" Bast asked, cutting Alaric off just as he was beginning to speak, mouthing her apology to him before looking back at Rafferty.

"The celestial crest gives you constant access to the angels healing abilities, even without the angel themselves being there. For as long as the angel lives, their healing power will be quite literally etched into your skin, making it much harder to kill you. If you get hurt more than the healing can handle, Maeve would automatically be made aware of your inevitable injury, or death, depending on how much trouble you find yourselves in."

"Wait, so-" Mercy started to ask but was cut off by Rafferty, who shook his head no, holding up his hand.

"Angels can use different doorways throughout your world to travel from one point of the earth into another. Some may consider this as a transportation ability, as only angels can do so. Depending on how much practice she gets with it, she will be able to open and close doors wherever she wishes, meaning, even if you are stuck in an underground lair, Maeve will be able to find you."

"We are vampires, recreants, elementals, and mimics. We will always be in some sort of danger, at some point in time. We cannot very well allow Maeve to feel like she has to come to our every beck and call. She has a life to live, as does Sinclair. I think it would be best not to tie her to us, especially seeing as how she's only known us for a few weeks." Damien said before anyone else could speak, looking around the table to look at each of us for a few moments before looking back at Rafferty.

"I may be considered biased, but I do agree with him," I added with a nod, watching as the twins rolled their eyes at me.

"Yeah, we don't want to be marked," Ciaran said, then put his face between his hands, setting his elbows on the table before flashing Rafferty a big grin. "But we still want one of your-"

"No, you will not get one of my feathers. As adorable as you and your sister are, I am no fool."

"Hmm, the jury's still out on that one," Azeneth responded, winking at Rafferty before leaning back in her seat, narrowing her eyes as she glared at him.