pairings: audrey x abh | rating: t | tw: suggestive
taglist: @rc-catalog @chiarakole @viviennecism
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sounds of his boots against the tiles grew harsher as Cassiel’s patience wore thinner, and thinner, and ended.
“What’s taking them so long?” he groused, muscles clenching as he crossed his arms. The small amount of peace he’d gained from their visit to the kennels had evaporated.
Felonia shot him a sidelong glance, but remained silent, not bothering to provide what she thought was an obvious answer.
“I’m going to go find them,” he announced.
Fel didn’t try to stop him. What did stop him from making a horrible mistake, however, was a long, drawn-out moan. Louder than Azrael, who was still cursing out Siire, it bounced off the palace walls, echoed past the sentries lining the hall, and settled at the mortified demon’s feet.
Cassiel backtracked, an exceptionally sour look crossing his face. “...Let’s wait outside.”
They left hurriedly (followed by the longing gazes of Azrael’s guards, who definitely were not being paid enough for this).
Over the centuries, Mikael had never once been late. Today, though, the archangel was nowhere to be seen.
Felonia, Raphael, and even the lackadaisical Malek had already gathered for their upcoming mission, waiting for the final two members to join them.
“Perhaps someone should fetch them?”
Malek’s unspoken order was met with quiet detachment from the servant angel, who left the room, only to return within minutes.
Malek raised a brow. “Could you not find them?”
Raphael frowned, focusing on the edge of his senses. “But they’re in their room…”
There was a beat of silence that everyone understood but refused to engage with.
With a smirk, Malek dropped into a chair. “Well, let’s not disturb them.”
No one commented on their breathlessness or rumpled clothes when the pair arrived, hand in hand and smiling giddily. And none of them could hide their own smiles at the lightness that finally graced their friends’ shoulders – it was a long time coming.
Mikael awkwardly tried to avoid meeting his colleagues’ gazes as they patiently waited for the two females of their team. It shouldn’t have been hard - half of the remaining group was blind. But Malek was smirking provocatively, no doubt paying very close attention to what was happening at the foot of the hill. Just as Mikael was beginning to wonder if the immortal would bother to intervene if things became too heated, Malek spoke, amusement clear in his voice, “Come and join us, ladies.”
“We’re coming!”
Relieved to see them relatively in order (and thankful that he hadn’t been the one to interrupt them, from the scowl on Fel’s face) Mikael decided to let them go without reproach. And hope they could keep their hands to themselves on the flight back, at least.
Audrey was very dear to the Astreans, and it was out of respect to her that they withheld their more violent urges toward Malek, even though they could never really understand what the psychiatrist saw in the strange immortal. Most of the time they managed this well. Today was not one of those times.
Raphael, senses much keener than the others, had immediately sensed the unusual darkness gathering in Audrey’s room. He’d stood up quite abruptly, drawing the concern of the other immortals.
“Raphael? What is it?”
“Audrey.”
The one word reply made the other immortals focus their attention, too – all five were now honed in on the woman’s bedroom. Sensing the strange mesh of energies, they wasted no time in rushing toward it – but came to a screeching halt just meters away. Their faces twisted identically as groans of pleasure rang through the icy hallway.
“...Nope,” David announced. He figuratively and literally turned a one-eighty as he hightailed it out of there, the others close on his heels.
“May I accompany you?”
“That would be wonderful. Let’s go.”
And even though Layla promised a performance for one, the immortals still ended up on the topic of Raphael’s musical talent.
“Is there an instrument Raphael can’t play?” David asked.
Mikael allowed himself a small smile. “I don’t think so.”
Malek was the one to add, “Something tells me it won’t be the harp he plays…”
The clear innuendo didn’t faze their hosts, already used to such matters. It did make Cassiel reach for more glyft, especially when some sounds that definitely did not originate from a harp slipped from the curtained room. The alcohol was probably also responsible for his tongue loosening unusually when the couple returned not long later.
“Done playing?”
Audrey blushed deeply, making the demon flush in turn.
David’s cheerful voice broke the silence, “Oh, sit down, you lovebirds.”
Layla added, “I’m sure the music you two created was wonderful.”
Raphael wrapped his arms around Audrey’s waist, his white wings hiding her from prying eyes, and the immortals silently agreed to never let on how much of that music they had heard.
“I’d like to get some rest.”
Cassiel quickly jumped to his feet and offered Audrey his hand.
The couple’s less than subtle exit drew a quiet laugh from David. “I hope the rooms are soundproofed?”
Fel rolled her eyes, and the angels remained diplomatically silent, though Raphael’s ears turned a little red.
Moon smiled as slyly as his sister had moments before. “Oh, there’s no need to worry about that.”
Layla returned quickly, looking self-satisfied. Conversation diverted to other topics. And though not much time had passed, David suddenly said, “Should we check on them?”
Mischief sparked in his eyes as he imagined the other demon’s ire at being interrupted.
Layla smiled amiably. “It’s lovely that you care so much about your friends.”
Fel, who saw right through David’s bullshit, asked, “Are you sure you want to interrupt them?”
David grinned. “Of course not! That would fall to our lovely host.”
Layla willingly played along, promising to be right back.
“Someday, David, this is going to bite you in the ass.”
“Maybe in another timeline.”
malek and fel's scenes were fairly private but the thought of the astreans having to tolerate for audrey's sake makes me crack up, and it felt wrong leaving fel out so I improvised and used the far lands scene instead of the bathroom. maybe I should've waited for the update to see if we got a proper fel scene but I'm impatient 😩
Notes. because it's been a while since I wrote some angst (will be posting a happier fic shortly to make up for it). title from he don't love me by winona oak. the lyrics it's all a game, we stay the same from the same song are also so them, let's just ignore the rest of the song
Hysterical laughter threatened to bubble out of David as he stumbled across ancient ice.
We made it. We won.
Won was pushing it a little, given the bloodied state of affairs, but David would take it. He’d kept his promise, whispered against hope and salty lips.
"I never lose."
He was still grinning as he made his way over to Audrey, still grinning as he reached to wake her, still grinning as he touched ice cold skin.
He recoiled.
No. No, no, no.
Someone was screaming. It took a moment to realise it was him.
The others were moving around him, but he couldn’t process it. His mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution.
I can fix this. I have to fix this.
“Siire!”
The demon appeared as if he’d been waiting for David to call on him. His smoky body hung low, an insolent smile splitting his face.
“Bring her back,” David demanded.
“What will you give me in return?”
“Anything. Just bring her back.”
His voice was smug. “I already have what I want.”
His earlier words echoed through David’s mind.
“Are you sure you want Audrey?”
She’d been dead then, he realised. And none of them had known. Rage flooded him, but he shoved it down, pride forgotten as he crawled on his knees to the only figure that could help him.
“I’ll flood the Desert of Sins with blood,” he promised. Raphael made a small noise of protest behind him. “I’ll bring you the heads of whoever you wish.”
Siire was quiet, and in the silence, his answer was clear.
David offered the only thing he had left. “Take my life. Just bring her back.”
“And leave our deal unfulfilled? Have you gone mad?”
He gritted his teeth. “And what if I kill myself right here? Who will fulfill the deal then?”
Mikael put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, clinging even tighter to Audrey.
Siire spoke dangerously softly, “Do that, and I’ll kill all your little friends.”
Suffocating. He was suffocating on his despair. He couldn’t think, rasping the same thing over, and over, and over again.
“Bring her back. BRING HER BACK!”
The valley howled along with him, shaking from the force of his devotion.
Cassiel was trying to move him, but he wouldn’t budge, unwilling to be separated from Audrey, even in death.
With a laugh, Siire vanished, and with him, so did the last of David’s hope.
People always act like whenever there’s a new sequel announced or a spin off or something, that it’s the end of rc and death of creativity forever. It’s not. When this update drops there will officially be 60 books in RC.
Sixty books. of course there's gonna be some sequels among them
Guys this isn’t even an unpopular opinion it’s just an objective fact, there is absolutely no shortage of new original stories in rc.
And also most of the time whenever there’s a sequel it’s released with a new story in the same update.
I don’t know why this fandom gets all melodramatic and fussy every time there’s a sequel because there’s genuinely nothing to get dramatic about? I don’t see the big deal, if you don’t want a sequel, or any story for that matter, genuinely just don’t read it.
And I get it if you’re some completionist who’s trying to read all the stories and finish all the achievements or something, but then you have to understand what you’re signing up for: you're gonna have to complete stories you won’t wanna complete. You can complain about it but don’t act like RC is committing a personal attack on the fandom just because you chose to finish 60 stories and not all of them are gonna be your cup of tea
Honestly, hating on a new story before it’s even out is a crazy kind of low. Especially the people hating on the author, you haven't even read their work yet. Grow up, at this point you’re being hysterical.
"I think David would be a good adviser" ooh foreshadowing maybe?
"I'd probably go on a trip to the islands of hell and heaven" another peek at the future?
Noo she doesn't even trust Audrey unconditionally because of her sacrificial tendencies 😭
"I don't even know... I wouldn't want to go to the execution to say goodbye to them. I'd try to get them out. But if death were inevitable, I think I would say goodbye to David. I'd say he's such an idiot to get caught. And probably Cassiel. I'd promise to take care of his hellish dogs." 10/10
"Imagine you need to pet the chicken" on controlling strength when interacting with humans 😂
I KNEW DAVID WAS HER FAVOURITE
"sometimes I feel like one of them" [the Astreans] 🥹
"They [the horsemen] never visited us while we were standing by Audrey's coffin" can we just acknowledge Lucifer and Vicky having their little moment and the meeting with the mother of life happening right there
"filling out paperwork... It's just a quiet horror, to be honest" same girl same
"Hell's dogs are wonderful creatures. Maybe someday I'll have my own" my fic has been validated
ik creating stuff makes me happy, but the depression is like what if you just sleep all day
then I've got 19 masters applications left to do, the one I already did took close to an hour, 16 of them you have to create an account for each university (3 you can do at the same time through the university admissions centre which SHOULD be normalised) and 1 wanted me to get two factor authentication so I don't even know if I'll bother applying WHY DO THEY HAVE TO MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT
vaporwave
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
ellievsbear
amandla
prguitarman
kianamaiart
