Angels and Demons

Rose nodded.

"Basically, I am creature of the trees. I can talk to them, become part of them, as you saw. Most dryads bond to one tree, and that tree is their life-blood. When that tree dies, so do they. I am the first one that didn't happen to."

Almost immediately after its conception, our makeshift group had already begun to fall apart, to the great dismay of poor James, who had appointed himself shepherd.
Just as well. Despite his distaste for the position, (or perhaps because of it) he really was the prime candidate.

Before I knew it, Damascus had joined the renegade fold, and run off after a voice. There was a disquieting thud. Thus, I too turned renegade, and rushed to check upon him.

He'd fallen to the forest floor, but he looked unhurt, if a little ruffled. I smiled lightly, and offered a hand to help him up.

"Careful, there. James will be worrying himself grey fast enough without our help."

Damascus gratefully took Boris' hand and pulled himself up, though his weight threatened to topple them both. He smiled back and brushed himself off, his wings ruffling invouluntarily.

"Of course. Clumsy me." With a good-natured chuckle, he glanced back in the direction he supposed Edward had been pulled.

"I could have sworn I heard Schadel's voice, but now that I think about it..." he turned back to Boris, his eyes shining in amusement. "I wouldn't put it past myself to get us terribly lost."

~~~

"Your tree died?" Sevy frowned, mulling this over. "It's great that you didn't die, but... how did that happen? Did you- find another tree? Or something?"

"I don't know. I think it had something do to with the curse the gods put on me." Rose said

Something about running around in the forest with Damascus lit up a spark within me, and I felt like a wicked little boy once again. I gave Damascus a sly grin.

"Why don't we see for ourselves, if it was her? We needn't go far, and it's awfully bright out. And on top of that-" I flexed my wings suggestively- "We can always scout overhead if we lose track of the others.

What do you say?"

Edward could barely contain his laughter as he went to step out from behind the tree, even though he could hear the worry in James's voice. It was too hard not to; Schadel had honestly been scared of James. He did look a little intimidating, he had to admit, but she was a grim reaper. She was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

(Even Damascus couldn't really compare.)

Then again, Schadel did have a tendency to get scared in haunted houses, so her getting scared of James as a demon shouldn't have been as hilarious as it was.

Schadel followed him out from behind the tree.

"I'm okay," he reassured him, trying - and failing - to hold back more laughter as he saw how red Schadel was getting. "It's just Schadel."

Schadel managed a wave, still blushing.

James let out a sigh of relief. It was just Schadel.

"Well then, let's go back and join the others. Before things unfold into more chaos, please," he said, putting a hand on Edward's shoulder and then gesturing for him and Schadel to follow.

Edward's laughter finally died down by the time that they reached the group again, mainly due to the looks he saw on people's faces. Maahes didn't seem all that fazed by adding another angel to the group, but Griffith tensed noticeably. And a little ways behind them, Zephyrus was trying to comfort a trembling, pale Aquarius who looked on the verge of tears.

(From the snippets of the conversation he overheard, it sounded like Zephyrus was trying to reassure him that he wouldn't be suddenly taken into the forest by a shadowy monster.)

"It's okay, Rius," Zephyrus said, patting Aquarius on the back. "You're not going to be taken by a monster."

"Bu-But Edward didn't think that either," Aquarius said, lip quivering and tail nervously swishing from one side to the other behind him. He grabbed onto his brother's arm.

"Edward's back now," Zephyrus pointed out. When Aquarius looked unconvinced by this, he abruptly pulled his brother into a makeshift embrace. "It was probably just the angel he came out with. Nothing bad, I promise. And if something does come, I'll fight it. I'm Remus, remember? I can do anything." He gave a big, exaggerated wink.

Aquarius raised a sleeve and wiped his tears away. "That was because we were playing pretend then, Zeph," he commented, but the little smile gave on his face made it clear that he was feeling better.

As they returned to the group, James immediately did a headcount, coming up short of two. Turning to Maahes, he withheld his frustration poorly as he asked the question tensely.

“Where are Boris and Damascus?”

Maahes stiffened when he heard the tone that James was using, and his wings instinctively wrapped around him - he guessed it was a way angels comforted themselves. It wasn't doing too much to help, but he could see how it might. He looked nervously around, and found that neither Boris or Damascus were anywhere to be seen.

"I-I don't know," Maahes admitted, worried that telling James that would only get his friend more irritated.

"Ooh, Boris and Damascus are here, too?" the newcomer asked; she was craning her head as she looked through the group of people. "Oh, hey! Engel's here, too! Hey, Engel!"

As the angel continued to excitedly gush about seeing her apparent siblings, a quiet voice suddenly spoke up from behind Maahes. "They went into the forest," Griffith said, looking from James to Maahes to back to James. "I saw Damascus go in there after Edward, and then Boris followed him a little while later."

James's head snapped over in the direction as Griffith filled in the details. He let out a long, controlled sigh through his nostrils and muttered in a whisper under his breath:

"I'm gonna kill them. If they get hurt I'm gonna f***ing kill them."

He then turned back to Maahes, sighing again, but in full. His gaze slowly drifed over to Edward. "Edward," he barked. "It looks like we're going out into the forest like you wanted. Boris and Damascus went in to find you but haven't come back." With a wave of his hand, he gestured that everyone follow. "Everyone, let's go. Stay close, and for the love of gods don't go off on your own."

Rose saw Aquarius trembling. She came up to him. "Mind if I hang with you?" She asked gently.

Boomslang looked between Engel and Schadel, raising an eyebrow. "You know her too? You really make your way around, der Silberfuchs. I must say, I'm rather hurt that after all these years you still don't tell me these things. I thought we were past secrets."

He didn't answer, just sighed, resigned. There was no way he was going to keep Boomslang from figuring out who he knew at this point. Except for Boris and Damascus, anyways.

"Cornyx, are your forms stuck as well?" Boomslang asked the tall demon in the background.

"Yes."

"Unfortunate." She looked at Engel. "But you still have your vampirism, do you not? Seeing as it is an effect and not a form."

"Ja, Herrin Boomslang," he said, putting emphasis on the Boomslang for Schadel's sake.

"Good." She nodded once and fell silent.

"Wonderful idea." Damascus nodded evenly, matching Boris' smile, and remembered for a moment that he could fly (most likely).

"Now..." He scanned the trees and attempted to orient himself, only to turn back around in vain with a rather sheepish grin. "Pick a direction, Boris. We'll go from there."

I surveyed our surroundings, and happily, a lead cropped up in no time at all. I turned to Damascus.

"There's a creek, just ahead. If Schadel is here, she was likely following that. Does this align with the direction you heard the voice from?"