Chapter 37 - Ally

Iris

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"I am going to kill you."
Valkyre raised a brow as he stepped back into the inn's room, rather calmly noting the vampire struggling to stand, leaning against the corner and breathing heavily. The furniture was untouched, and Iris was perched on the edge of the bed, blinking back dully.
The angel closed the door behind him, sighing as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Asher scowled at him, managing to push himself away from the wall and face the other, though his leg was still clearly unsteady. Valkyre had bound the vampire's arms tightly behind his back, and now reconsidered his choice of having not tied up the legs as well.
"You don't seem to be in the best position to say that," he commented on dryly. It'd been hard enough getting a room without raising too much suspicion, and the angel really didn't need any more annoyances for the night.
"Try me," Asher hissed, stumbling as he pushed forward.
Valkyre sighed again, quickly stepping to the side and tripping the vampire as he tried to whirl around, solidly pinning down his legs as he fell heavily to the ground. Perhaps it was a bit cruel to be playing on weaknesses, but the angel was honestly too tired by now to care about morale.
"-D-Damn you! Get the hell off of me!"
Valkyre glared back at the other as he kneeled, scowling. "Keep shouting," he muttered, "And I'll gag you. So shut up, and try to act sensibly."
The vampire snarled back at him, but bit his lip and cut back his words.
The angel sighed, partially in relief, and relaxed his grip. He searched around in his pockets, eventually drawing out a thin, short knife. A flickered gaze caught the vampire's startled pale eyes, watching him suspiciously.
When Valkyre bent down though and touched the other's right pants leg, Asher struggled to fight back, snarling and spitting out more half-coherent curses. The angel ignored him, and the fabric split easily with a faint rip under the keen edge of the small blade.
"What're you- L-Let go of me!!"
Valkyre frowned as he held the legs pinned down, rather surprised at the weak effort the vampire gave forth, despite his foul words and his obvious contempt. It only proved that the other truly was weakened, though by what the angel still didn't know.
He paused, blinking, as he pulled back the black cloth and saw the wound. It was deep and burned an angry red, a thick cut that laced itself all the way over his calf, leaving a trail of ruined and jagged scar tissue over the pale skin. The dark crimson blood of the earlier cut stained over it, a smaller incision that had nonetheless dug into a part of the heavily-scarred and poorly healed flesh. A wound like this would've no doubt crippled a human, and the bright red showed it to be still rather recent despite the vampiric healing speed, and could easily be seen as quite a wonder that Asher was still able to stand at all.
"...What the hell happened to you??"
The angel was already moving on, studying the depth of the wound and the angle at which it was delivered. The vampire's struggling and curses were ignored as Valkyre cut up the other pants leg near the knee, sitting back slightly and frowning as he saw the other end of the scar; a smaller wound along the other leg that matched the cut of the first, proving it to have been quite of a large and heavy blow.
Valkyre looked up, studying the other's strained face. Calmly, he asked, "...Are there any other wounds?"
Asher scowled at him, baring his teeth, but started suddenly as Iris stepped down, walking over to them. The boy leaned over and studied the scars impassively, expression still blank.
"...Be damned if I tell you," the vampire muttered through gritted teeth.
Valkyre looked up sharply at the words, then carefully studied the other's body again, looking over the torn and shapeless clothing, powdered in dust and dirt. The angel leaned over, pinning down the legs under his own. His fingers ran roughly over the other's torso, then stopped at an area where a rather small rip in the cloth had been loosely stitched together. His eyes flickered and caught the flinch in the other's face at the movement.
Without another word, Valkyre tore apart the loosely-done stitches, then sat back suddenly, drawing in a sharp breath.
Between two of the lower ribs, with a dip upwards showing that it'd been aimed for the heart instead, a thick hole gaped back at him, edges ragged and the same angry red as the scar on the legs, the newly-healed flesh deeper down still only working at covering the bare wound.
For the first time, the angel detected the slight hitch in the breath as the vampire inhaled sharply, surprisingly first to look away.
Asher let his head drop on the floorboards, twisted to the side so his face couldn't be seen. He started and tried to jerk away suddenly though as Iris knelt next to his head, reaching out tentatively with a hand as if to touch.
"Hold still," Valkyre murmured calmly, still studying the scar. It had been deep, and bent upwards, and there was quite a high chance of it having pierced straight through to the other side. Such of a wound...
"D-Don't need you to tell me that," the vampire hissed through clenched teeth. The angel smiled ruefully, scoffing. "Then what were you doing, attacking me in such of a"-
"Don't touch me!"
Valkyre looked up, finding the snarl directed at Iris, who was leaning over the other's face, thin fingers brushing aside the hair, free hand holding down the head gently, but perhaps just slightly forcibly.
"...Iris..."
The boy's fingers touched lightly on the vampire's nose, then traced their way up to the scar between the eyes, soft fingertips running gently along the length of the red-marked, jagged path. The small hand stopped suddenly, flinching, and then the boy drew back suddenly, stumbling away.
"Iris? What is it?"
Valkyre pushed himself away from the other's remarkably still body, stepping over quickly to the boy, who'd drawn himself up into a corner, small hands wrapped around his drawn knees, shivering.
"...What's the matter?"
Valkyre hurried to his feet, making his way over the the other. The boy stilled underneath the light touch against his shoulder, small clenched fingers loosening slightly.
The angel knelt beside him, frowning. "...Iris?"
"...Raguel." The name was breathed out, raggedly. "It... it's Raguel."
Valkyre bit at his lip, frown deepening. "...What?"
A sharp bark of a laugh sounded from behind him, and the angel looked back at Asher, who'd struggled onto his side, lips curled back in a mirthless smile.
"Don't tell me the little wretch is afraid of his own ally," he breathed out, voice rasping.
Valkyre turned around abruptly, grabbing the other by the hair roughly and dragging him up, ignoring the snarl in protest.
"Don't you dare call him that, you"- The angel cut off, biting hard at his own lip, glaring down at the other. Asher stared straight back, pale yellow eyes seething with the same anger, the same fury.
"...What... what do you mean by that?" the angel demanded, fingers tightening their grip in the messy, unkempt black hair.
The vampire flashed a dark, pained smile back, chuckling faintly under his breath.
"Raguel, of course. I know he works with you two, don't you deny it."
The pale eyes narrowed, burning clearly through the pain.
"After all, it's thanks to him, Phelan and Ayra are dead."

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AN: Ah, another chapter at last. Eheheh. Lots of work as of late, but maybe I'll get a brief spell of time before the finals are crushing down, and so that'll hopefully mean that I can get some more work done.
Don't worry, I've still got plenty to go on Iris! And I don't plan on giving up anytime, at all!
Hmm, for once, I really don't have that much to say. But I will try to get some more work done, as I've got both this and TC to really hack at. So expect updates from either, as I really, really want to get more of TC done. :3
Hope this chapter is enough to keep you all satisfied for just a little while longer! Be patient, please! XD
Thanks for reading! :D ::bows::

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