Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (18 page)

The words came out quickly and suddenly, sounding confident as she decided what they would do next. Before Ash could respond, she had wished her bangle to show them Finlay’s location and pulled the mortal to his feet. Tapping the gold quickly, she felt herself and Ash being teleported to another level of the world.

Once they arrived at the unknown destination, it occurred to Annalise that she had not taken into account her state, wings still spread open. It was too late to do anything about it now, however; whoever was around would have already seen and she would have to come up with some explanation. Careless of her really. She wasn’t even sure where she was, although the space was small and very similar to what she would assume was a residence. 

“What in the moons, Ash,” she heard a voice shriek angrily.

Turning to the unfamiliar voice, Annalise thought she had somehow teleported them to the wrong place, but as she set her eyes on the scene before them, she let go of Ash and threw her hand over her mouth.

A tall girl with flaming red hair was jumping off of the bed on the side near them and glaring at Ash with a ferocity that slightly scared Annalise. Yet her face was burning red from embarrassment as she tried to straighten her clothes. The seraph felt a slight sense of what she had decided was jealousy creep up into her as she felt Ash’s protectiveness kick in and flow over to her. He was not very happy with what he was seeing in front of them.

Finlay’s loud laughter resonated through the small space as he rolled off the other side of the bed
, “Not such good timing there, guys.” He came around to where they stood, his hand going up to run through his messy blonde hair. His shirt was unbuttoned revealing his chest, bare and strongly built.

Annalise dropped her eyes, that embarrassed red tint coming over her own face. She wished she could be as cool and collected as Finlay, considering she had not been the one to be caught in the bed with someone.
Knowing that he had been deeply kissing the mortal when they arrived and his intentions with her, as well as Annalise’s own insecurities with the subject brought out feelings in her that she certainly did not want Ash to see. He had probably been with many a girl considering how attractive he was. Finlay was very handsome also, even as he stood there, caught in the act of something unheard of between seraph and mortal, yet he did not care. And Annalise could not even come up with something intelligent to say. She certainly did not want Ash to see her as insecure, even though she was.  Glancing over at him, she noticed that he did not seem to even remember she was in the room.

“What do you think you are doing with her?” Ash demanded, balling his hands up into fists and taking a few angry steps towards Finlay.

Finlay put his hands up in front of himself in defense, smile still spread across his face, “You know good and well what is going on here, friend. You weren’t going to do anything about it. So I did.” He looked past Ash and gave her a sly grin, “You missed out on the fun, Annalise.”

“Don’t even talk to her,” Ash insisted and moved so that she could no longer see the seraph’s face. “You have no business with someone who’s not your…kind.”

“Haven’t we had this discussion already, boy?” Finlay asked, still amused but letting his voice become slightly more serious, “I do as I please, who I please, and when I please. You and I are a lot alike in that sense, so don’t act so innocent. You can’t tell me you haven’t been itching for a little action with that seraph you’ve been keeping company.”

An exasperated sigh escaped from the redhead as she stomped over to the boys and glared at them, “Stop trying to prove who’s more of a man and pay attention to the big fallen monster in the room, would you!” Her eyes darted over to Annalise, and it was then that she could see the girl also had a dagger in her hand.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down now Arie. This is Annalise, she’s a seraph, no worries,” Finlay said, moving to put his arm around her and plant a kiss on her forehead, eyes not moving from Ash as to try and intimidate him. Finlay slowly pried the dagger from Arie’s grip.

Arie pushed Finlay off of her, folding her arms in front of her as if he were wrong. “Don’t be a fool, she’s a fallen. I’ve seen them, hunted them. They look just like her.”

Ash looked back at her, eyebrows pulled together in irritation, and Annalise frowned. Had she done something wrong? Maybe said something to make him upset with her? She wrapped her arms around herself and cast her eyes to the ground. So far, there was nothing that she liked about this girl, but she was determined not to let her get the best of her. “You are the fool if you think that I am a fallen.” She raised her eyes to the girl and challenged her to say something else, even though she wasn’t sure what she would do if the girl attacked her.

The girl’s eyes opened in shock as she pulled herself further away from the group, “I don’t trust her. And you shouldn’t either.
Get her out of my home!” Her words were directed at Ash, and Annalise could sense the jealousy in them. This girl liked him, and that made Annalise dislike this female mortal even more.

Finlay rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Ash, “Don’t mind her, she’s just freaking out.”

“Don’t tell me what to do with my friend,” Ash insisted, pointing a finger at the seraph and taking a deep breath to steady himself, “Look, we need your help. That’s why we came here. When we decided to come and talk to you, we didn’t realize that you would be
busy
.”

Rubbing his chin,
Finlay appeared to take Ash’s words into consideration, “My help, huh, what with?”

Annalise took this opportunity to step in and walked over to place her hand on Finlay’s arm, “The fallen have attacked our home.”

“What!?” he exclaimed and grabbed her by the arms to make her look into his eyes, “Are you sure?”

The fear that she saw in his eyes only made her feel more upset. If both Finlay and Leon were afraid, then there was no hope for their race. That meant two of the strongest seraphs she knew were unsure of what to do and terrified of what could happen.  Only Ash appeared to be ready to fight them. “We were there. With Leon. They must have followed us through the rip in time and space. Endarial was leading them.”

“We need to get you home. I don’t even care about these mortals right now,” he insisted with a nod of his head, sure of himself. This statement earned him an icy glare from Arie, who took a step back from him.

“I-I cannot go back.”

He pulled his eyebrows together, seriousness taking him over, “And why is that?”

Annalise cast a nervous glance over at Ash and tried to find a way to answer him. She thought maybe he had been listening in on her conversation but she wasn’t completely sure. “The Elders believe that Ash and I are working with the fallen. Now they must think that we led them into our realm on purpose, that I raised him on purpose for some reason. They are unwilling to work with me. They want me
to make it right in an unacceptable way and I am banished until I do so. I refuse, Finlay, I will not do such hideous things. We are a people of peace, and the Elders are acting as if they have lost their senses. Ash and I are going to find Endarial and her minions and make this right.”

“No, no, no and no. You are not going to go anywhere on your own. I will go with you if you are insistent on going on this journey, but you are not going alone.”

“Ash is going with me. I will not be alone.”

Finlay’s eyes trailed over to Ash in consideration, “He’s quite the fighter but he’s no match against a fallen.”

“It’s not like you would be that great,” Arie giggled from across the room, hinting that Ash would be a better hunter than Finlay.

He chuckled slightly, but didn’t address the issue. Annalise knew that he liked his privacy, so it didn’t surprise her when he did not admit to being a seraph. She hated that Arie may have caught on with their relationship, but she could only hope that the girl was trustworthy.

“You do not have the training it will require to take on a fallen, Annalise,” he said.

“But you promised me that you would make sure I got out of this mess. You cannot go back on your promise if you are truly my friend,” Annalise insisted as she looked at him. He had to understand, this was the only way she knew to clear her name.

Finlay cursed under his breath and ran his hand down his face. He shook his head in defeat , “Fine. I will help you on one condition. You must do as I say: do not, I repeat, do not engage in battle with Loki. Do what you need with Endarial and her minions, but leave him to me. Afterwards, I will speak with Leon and the Elders and we will come up with a plan.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a nod and moved her hands to place them over his, “Thank you for taking a minute to be serious with me.”

That’s all it took for a smile to broaden over his face. Something in the comment reminded him that he was not being his playful old self and it was enough for him to pretend things were fine again. He pulled her close into a tight hug and laughed, “Oh Annalise, ever the serious seraph. You need to loosen up, live a little. Ash here might be kinda good for you.” For a moment it was hard to breathe until he let her go and she stepped back.

“Now,” he started, eyeing her up and down, “You are going to have to wear something a little more…appropriate than your little sundress if you’re going down to the lowest level of the planet, sweetheart.” He laughed again, taking hold of the fabric of the hem of her dress and moving it back and forth.

Annalise slapped his hand away from her and took a step back towards Ash. She looked over at him worried, “See, he will help us. He is your friend. You should not take him so seriously.”

“Just do as he wants and let’s get out of here,” Ash mumbled, it was obvious that he was still angry about everything that had transpired.

“Bounty hunter,” Finlay ordered with a laugh, turning to Arie with a smile and waltzing over to her. He took her hand in his and raised it to his lips for a kiss, eyes boring into hers, “Would you be a dear and find something for Miss Anna to wear?”

“Just a moment ago, you said you didn’t care about me.”

“Of course I do, you know that.” He kissed her hand again.

Arie rolled her eyes but smiled slightly, unable to resist the Finlay charm. Annalise couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance. This girl made her sick, thinking she could have Finlay and Ash both. These thoughts were alien to the seraph; worrying about the feelings of another. She just felt bombarded and confused at what she should be doing and thinking. Setting her mind on the mission, she pushed past
Ash and tried not to look at him. She followed the redhead into the next room, eyes cast on the floor.

“Welcome to the storage room. Clothes, weapons, it’s all here.” Arie shut the door behind them and leaned against it, arms crossed, “So you
are the one who saved him, huh?”

Annalise gave a small nod.

The girl continued to study her as if she were trying to figure out something. “Are you a danger to him at all?”

“No, of course not.”

“You aren’t going to kill him?”

“No, of course not.”

“That’s what you were hinting at in there, that your people wanted you to.”

Annalise met the eyes of the girl across from her, feeling the irritation rising in her, “I do not care what they want from me. I shall not kill him. I would rather sacrifice myself. There are…feelings of some sort. I do not know.” She waved her hand as if not to care and brush off the last few comments but she could see it in the other girl’s eyes that she was not happy with the things Annalise was saying.

The girl pushed herself off of the door and walked over to her, arms still crossed and examining her for some reason. She stopped in front of her, tall enough to look down at her and sighed, “You are going to be a little short for my clothes and a little small in the chest but I think I can make it work.”

She turned around and walked over to a door across the room and opened it to reveal a few sets of clothing hanging up in the small space. Annalise wasn’t sure what kind of insult the girl was trying to imply with those words, but she could tell by the sound of her voice that there was something there. She glanced over at herself in the mirror and took in her own form. She was surprised to see that she did look a little worn. Her eyes were somewhat droopy from all of the stress and worry, her long hair was tangled so that she couldn’t run her hand through it smoothly, her dress was wrinkled. If she were not certain it was impossible, she
would have said that her wings were dimmer, but she knew that could never happen. Was there something about her that made mortals think that she was unattractive? And yet again, why did she care?

Turning her attention back to the redhead, she noticed her pulling out a black slinky outfit for her to wear. She handed Annalise the material without a word and turned her back on her. She pulled out a second outfit for herself and began to dress. Annalise turned her eyes away from the girl, surprised at her confidence in her body to change in the same room and turned her attention to the clothing. The seraph examined the material, some sort of soft cloth, but rougher than her dress was. It was a
manmade material, completely different from what she was used to, and it felt foreign against her skin.

“Don’t just stand there, put it on so we can get this over with.”