My Fallen Angel

"I'm so bored," CC complained, roaming the aisles of the bus aimlessly. "How much longer till we're there?"
"A couple more hours. Sit down," Ashley grunted at him, his eyes closed as he leaned his head back against the sofa.
I think he was starting to have withdrawals from his lack of human contact, which meant as soon as the bus stopped he would probably have to find the next available human and either sleep with her or get some of her blood.
Poor thing. He would live, though. As long as you kept sinning, your body would hold up well on this plain, but if you trailed off, it would deplete and you could still fade.
Not that I think he had ever been in danger of that.
I frowned down at the silly magazine I held in my lap. It was about music, and I had picked it out of one of the many stacks littering the bus in an attempt to amuse myself.
But I had no idea what any of this meant.
I sighed, tossing it away. I let my eyes rove over the guys. Ashlandil had withdrawals, CC was restless, Jake had been on his phone the entire time with who I assumed was his mate as many pet names he used, and Jinxx had been back in the bunks.
Andy was up front with us on his laptop. Headphones in as he watched some kind of movie.
"Kenna, truth or dare?" CC abruptly asked, coming to a stop in front of me.
"What?" I looked up at him. What was this?
"Pick one. Truth or dare?"
"Um. Truth."
"Okay... What did you do before you came with us?" he asked, sitting down heavily in the floor in front of me, strerching his legs out.
"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling my hair over my shoulder, running my fingers through it.
"Like, what was your job? What did you do?"
"Oh. I was an entertainer."
"What kind of entertainer?" CC raised his brows suggestively, but I didn't understand and just gave him a confused look. "She's not a stripper, CC." Ashley muttered, his eyes still closed. "She was a professional dancer, like ballet."
What was a stripper?
"Oh." CC almost looked disappointed. "You must've been really good then."
"I was," I nodded, braiding my hair. "I was one of the best."
I wasn't been arrogant when I spoke, or bragging. We had all been created with our own talents, and that had been mine. I was perfect at it and enjoyed it immensely because that is what I was created to do. And it was one of the things I missed so much.
"Why did you stop?" Andy asked, and I glanced over at him, seeing he'd pulled his headphones out and was listening. "If you enjoyed it so much, why stop?"
I looked down at my hair. "Something more important came up, and I had to leave my home to take care of it. Dancing isn't that important anyway."
"You can still dance, Kenna." Ashley said, cracking his eyes open. "You don't have to wait for His bloody approval to do something you love. He can't do anything to you here."
My chest tightened. I didn't want to take any chances, though.
"Who? Did someone make you stop or something?" CC asked, frowning. "Because they can't do that. If you really love something, you should just do it, not let someone frighten you away from it."
"It's not like that ---."
"Like hell it isn't. " Ashley pushed himself up, and I sighed, pulling the braid from my hair. "He's got no power here." "Ashley! Don't ---."
"Fuck him," he snapped, and I winced as he got to his feet. "What the hell did He ever do for you other then make you miserable and take ---."
"Stop!" I hissed before he said something truly regretful. "He's done many wonderful things and you know it! Don't be so hateful!"
"How can you defend Him when you left too?" he demanded angrily.
"You know why, I didn't want too. Just drop it." I muttered. Every one was looking at us, listening to every word like some kind of drama play.
"Ash, man, why don't ---." Andy started worriedly, glancing between the two of us as the tension rose.
"No. No. Go ahead, Kenna. Why don't you tell them why you left His house of such fucking glory?" Ashlandil hissed at me, and I swallowed, looking down at my hands.
"Please stop, Ashley."
He glared down at me angrily. "You've let him have too much control of your existence for far too long! If you don't get out from under His influence soon, you know what's going to happen!"
"Shut up!"
"Stop being stubborn!"
"I will when you stop being so cruel!" I snapped, jerking to my feet. "There's no reason for this and you know it! Just because you're miserable doesn't mean you have to make the rest of us feel the same! Grow up! As old as you are I would have expected better of you!"
"Like you're any better! You've been around just as long as I have, dammit!"
"But I've not done half the horrible things you have," I hissed, making him pause for a moment. "And I refuse to let you take your anger out on me! I'm miserable enough here I don't need you making it worse with your psychotic mood swings!"
I was so furious I wanted to punch him. Why did he keep doing this? It was like everything was going completely fine and then he just had to start a fight, some kind of chaos. He couldn't be happy with peace.
I turned on my heel and stalked towards the back, unable to look at him anymore. I slung the curtain on my bunk out of the way and climbed in, jerking it shut. I curled up, hugging my knees to my chest. He had to ruin everything. Today had been going so well.
"What the hell, Ash?" I heard Andy exclaim. "The fuck was that?"
"Yeah, whyd you turn on her like that? She didn't do anything!" CC burst.
They were defending me?
"You guys don't know a damned thing about her, don't even start with me! You have no idea who she is!"
"Kenna is nice! She's always brightening up the place. And you've been a complete fuck to her the entire time she's been here, and she's your friend!" Andy snapped.
"You're the fucker who invited her on tour, not me!" Ashley shouted at him.
"Guys, chill!" I pressed my hands over my ears, not wanting to hear them fight anymore. This was all my fault, I never should have said anything. If I had just kept quiet and not snapped back at Ashlandil, they wouldn't be fighting.
I could hear Jake suddenly stride past the bunks and to the front, demanding to know why everyone was so loud. Jinxx followed him a few moments later, grumbling at them about waking him up.
I pressed my face into the pillow, trying to block all of them out, when the bus gave a sudden jerk, brakes screeching as the driver tried to stop.
I jerked out of the bunk, staggering to my feet, the bus tilting to the side dangerously
. If it fell it would hurt the humans --- hurt Andy.
Desperately, I kind of threw myself against the other side, the force enough to keep the bus from turning over. The back suddenly swerved, and everyone gave shouts of surprise as stuff started to fall from everywhere.
I yelped as something hit my forehead, and I jerked my hand against it as pain blossomed. I could feel blood sizzle against my hand.
"Kenna?" Ashlandil demanded, no doubt smelling it, and he shoved the curtain separating the front from the bunks out of the way, staggering over to me. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I muttered, wincing as he removed my hand.
"It's just a small scratch now." he muttered, glancing at my hand where black blood started to evaporate. "You'll be fine." "What happened?" I asked, my eyes flicking to the front as I searched for Andy.
"Our back tires exploded," he sighed. "We must've picked something up from that truck stop."
I pulled away from him, hurrying to the front. "Is everyone okay?" I asked, and they all nodded.
"Yeah, we're good. The drivers checking the damage," one of the guys sighed. "Looks like we're staying here for the night though."
"Why?" I asked, glancing over, seeing nothing but rows of cornfields.
"Larry is gonna have to change the tires, and this is a big bus. We might be able to get towed into town, though."
"It's like a hundred miles from here," Andy grimaced, picking up his laptop. "It'd take them a while to get here."
"Hey, a town sounds great," Ashley sighed from behind me. "Just call someone."
Anyone would work just so long as he could get his fix.

Notes