My Fallen Angel

"Drink!" Theda ordered, holding the unconscious mortal up by the arm.
"Theda, blood's not ---."
"You don't know what your sin is, you haven't tried any of them!" she told me sternly. "So drink his blood and see if it works for you. If not, I will."
The mortal moaned, and I grimaced.
I didn't want his blood.
I knew what I wanted.
But I hadn't told them that, so I curled my nose as I took his offered arm.
Theda nodded approvingly, and slit his wrist open with her nail. I pressed my lips against the wound, forcing his bitter blood into my mouth.
It tasted like metal.
I pulled away almost instantly, feeling sick, and Theda gave an aggravated sigh as she let him drop to the floor.
"He's all yours, Raza."
Raza grinned, stooping and hefting the mortal over his shoulder and carrying him off into another room, leaving a bloody trail behind.
"Come on, Kenali, you must have some inkling as to what sin gives you that thrill," she sighed in aggravation, sitting down beside me. "You've been here almost a month."
"I know," I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "But just so long as I can survive right now, it doesn't matter to me."
"It should! If blood doesn't do it for you, then it won't work long."
"I know." I looked down. "It just has to work for a little while longer."
Theda frowned at me, and she tugged on my hair. "At least your color is a little better. Maybe you should steal something. Cronus always gets his thrill off that, lucky asshole."
I glanced over at where he sat silently by the Window, gazing out at the street. The angels all shared a two bedroom apartment together, and I was currently taking up their couch. It was pretty, if not messy with all of Theda and Razas clothes thrown about.
Cronus was neat, and he'd barely spoken four sentences to me the entire three days I'd been with them.
I heard a yelp, and then a crunch, and I flinched, knowing Raza had just finished off the mortal.
"You'll get used to it, Kenali," Theda patted my knee sympathetically. "Raza has too, it's his thing. And that guy was wasting his life anyway with drugs. Did you see his arms? Total junkie."
"I suppose."
I never should have told Ashlandil the truth. If I hadn't, I would still be with Andiel and the others, not stranded out in the world seeking old friends to keep me up. I couldn't protect Andiel if I wasn't with him.
"There's a concert tonight," Raza announced as he stepped into the room, wiping blood off his mouth. "Andiels back in town. You wanna go, Kenali?"
His gaze made my skin crawl.
I bit my lip, then nodded.
"I need to see them, at least. Explain, or... Make something up," I sighed. "And if I can get everything figured out I'll get out of your guys hair."
"We don't mind having you here," Theda told me, but I knew she was the only one. They had a pack together, a close knit little band of outcasts, and I was intruding.
But I sent her a sincere smile.
"Regardless. I don't want to impose. I can handle Andiel just fine. It's Ashlandil I worry about."
"We can always off him if you like," Raza suggested, flailing himself in Thedas lap.
"No!" I burst quickly, knowing he was serious. "That's not necessary. He'll protect Andiel for the most part. He's just very angry at me at the moment."
"Because?" Theda prompted, wrapping her arms around Raza fondly.
"He didn't agree with my methods of keeping Andiel safe," I fiddled with a bracelet. "We had a fight over it and --- and he told me to leave, so I did."
"Was he serious about it or did he say it because he was pissed? Because I yell shit at Theda all the time I don't mean when she's being a bitch," Raza told me, and Theda frowned at him.
"I don't know, I didn't stay to find out." I muttered, tasting metal again. "I had never upset him so badly before. "
And if the others hadn't come out, I don't know what would have happened. He probably really would have lost his temper; he had already lost his glamour.
He was so awful.
So why did I miss him?

Notes