Feeling froggy tonight.
I'll be bringing you two, maybe three separate stories. The first is crossed posted to non_plot and angstwhores. It's Daniel and Ariella, and it has some unpleasantness, enough to rate it "R" for general wrongness.
Daniel evacuated the tent when that pretty little mouth said that last dirty phrase. Hearing a four-year-old girl tell you she’s going to strap Brother Mathew’s gory dick on and shove it into your eye just is wrong. And that wasn’t the worst apparently, because Brother Mathew bailed out thirty seconds later, throwing up less than four steps from the tent.
The whole situation was a cluster fuck. Bad intelligence had turned a relatively simple sweep into a nightmare. He was still waiting for a group of Raguel-Touched to come finish this whole nasty scene.
Two more monks left the tent, and a couple of moments later, three priest and Ariella appeared. She was stripping down to the barest of essentials right outside the tent entrance. Confused, Daniel approached her, doing his level best not to look.
“What are you doing? You can be seen.” he informed her, staring at the ground.
“Getting ready for the exorcism,” she replied, pulling tight leather armbands off.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. “Then they made it. Thank the Lord.”
Ariella dropped the leather pants in a pile by the door. “Who made it?”
“The exorcists. I thought it would take days.” He glanced Ariella out of the corner of his eye. “Why do you have to help. You aren’t a Raguelite.”
“The Raguelits won’t be doing this one, Danny. I am,” Ariella said, with slight quiver in her voice.
“I didn’t know you could do exorcisms. When did you learn that?”
“I saw Jacob do one while I was training about when I was fifteen. I did one two years later.” A shudder went down her spine that had nothing to do with being nearly naked in fifty degree weather. Daniel narrowed his eyes.
“Why didn’t I ever get shown that? I am a healer, after all.” Chanting began in the tent, and a priest was speaking Latin.
“Because you’re a Raphaelite. You couldn’t do this type of exorcism.” Ariella turned to go into the tent, nervous tension evident in her expression.
“What does that mean?” he asked, grabbing her arm.
“Only Sarielites and Urielites learn this type. Please, let me go,” she said softly. Dan felt the blood drain from his face at the implications of the two most deadly breeds having this knowledge, and only them.
“You’re going to kill her, aren’t you?” he asked quietly. Then anger took horror’s place, and his voice rose. “She’s just four!”
“And a Demon has been in her since birth!” Ariella shouted right back. The chanting hesitated in the tent, and some of the others outside it turned. “She hasn’t got a soul left! Even if the Raguelites could drive it out, which, by the way, they said they have serious doubts on, all that’d be left is an empty husk!”
“And what, you’re just going to go in there and kill her? She didn’t ask for this! It’s making her a monster!”
“No, you can blame her parents, who did ask it to inhabit her!” Ariella shouted, then took a deep breath, and pulled her voice down to normal levels. “And I can’t just kill her. This is an exorcism. We have to drive it out of the flesh host, or the body will just keep returning. Now, my responsibilities are calling. Don’t you have people to heal?” She grabbed his thumb and bent it backwards, and he let go, cursing. She calmly walked into the tent.
He turned back to where the captives were being held, but morbid curiosity pulled him back. He didn’t really want to believe she was going to kill an innocent. He parted the curtain over the doorway and peeked in to see Ariella pull the eyes out of that little girl’s head, and throw them in a burning brazier nonchalantly. He blanched and turned, and four steps later, threw up.
Staring down into the puddle of what he’d had for lunch, he understood something he had never considered. That Ariella and he had some very different responsibilities as different breeds of Touched. He also wondered if he could ever see his best friend as anything other than a heartless monster again.
Daniel evacuated the tent when that pretty little mouth said that last dirty phrase. Hearing a four-year-old girl tell you she’s going to strap Brother Mathew’s gory dick on and shove it into your eye just is wrong. And that wasn’t the worst apparently, because Brother Mathew bailed out thirty seconds later, throwing up less than four steps from the tent.
The whole situation was a cluster fuck. Bad intelligence had turned a relatively simple sweep into a nightmare. He was still waiting for a group of Raguel-Touched to come finish this whole nasty scene.
Two more monks left the tent, and a couple of moments later, three priest and Ariella appeared. She was stripping down to the barest of essentials right outside the tent entrance. Confused, Daniel approached her, doing his level best not to look.
“What are you doing? You can be seen.” he informed her, staring at the ground.
“Getting ready for the exorcism,” she replied, pulling tight leather armbands off.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. “Then they made it. Thank the Lord.”
Ariella dropped the leather pants in a pile by the door. “Who made it?”
“The exorcists. I thought it would take days.” He glanced Ariella out of the corner of his eye. “Why do you have to help. You aren’t a Raguelite.”
“The Raguelits won’t be doing this one, Danny. I am,” Ariella said, with slight quiver in her voice.
“I didn’t know you could do exorcisms. When did you learn that?”
“I saw Jacob do one while I was training about when I was fifteen. I did one two years later.” A shudder went down her spine that had nothing to do with being nearly naked in fifty degree weather. Daniel narrowed his eyes.
“Why didn’t I ever get shown that? I am a healer, after all.” Chanting began in the tent, and a priest was speaking Latin.
“Because you’re a Raphaelite. You couldn’t do this type of exorcism.” Ariella turned to go into the tent, nervous tension evident in her expression.
“What does that mean?” he asked, grabbing her arm.
“Only Sarielites and Urielites learn this type. Please, let me go,” she said softly. Dan felt the blood drain from his face at the implications of the two most deadly breeds having this knowledge, and only them.
“You’re going to kill her, aren’t you?” he asked quietly. Then anger took horror’s place, and his voice rose. “She’s just four!”
“And a Demon has been in her since birth!” Ariella shouted right back. The chanting hesitated in the tent, and some of the others outside it turned. “She hasn’t got a soul left! Even if the Raguelites could drive it out, which, by the way, they said they have serious doubts on, all that’d be left is an empty husk!”
“And what, you’re just going to go in there and kill her? She didn’t ask for this! It’s making her a monster!”
“No, you can blame her parents, who did ask it to inhabit her!” Ariella shouted, then took a deep breath, and pulled her voice down to normal levels. “And I can’t just kill her. This is an exorcism. We have to drive it out of the flesh host, or the body will just keep returning. Now, my responsibilities are calling. Don’t you have people to heal?” She grabbed his thumb and bent it backwards, and he let go, cursing. She calmly walked into the tent.
He turned back to where the captives were being held, but morbid curiosity pulled him back. He didn’t really want to believe she was going to kill an innocent. He parted the curtain over the doorway and peeked in to see Ariella pull the eyes out of that little girl’s head, and throw them in a burning brazier nonchalantly. He blanched and turned, and four steps later, threw up.
Staring down into the puddle of what he’d had for lunch, he understood something he had never considered. That Ariella and he had some very different responsibilities as different breeds of Touched. He also wondered if he could ever see his best friend as anything other than a heartless monster again.