Fallen Angels

Chapter Thirteen – Angel of Death

*****

He stepped through the backdoor into the shop and stopped. Instead of being packed with the fangirls that normally hung about, the shop was empty and quiet except for Omi sitting at the table putting together the arrangement for one of their phone orders. Yohji pulled the next order off the bulletin board and walked over to set it, his cup and the bagel on the table before walking over to the glass coolers to start gathering the flowers he needed. That’s when he noticed the sign on the door was still turned to say closed and a nervous smile touched his face knowing it was explanation time.

“Thanks for the coffee, Omi,” he said over shoulder as he opened the cooler and began to sort through a bunch of pale purple roses looking for the best blooms and buds.

“You’re welcome, Yohji. So who is he and ‘what’ is he,” Omi asked not looking up from his arrangement.

“He’s not a left over from the Korin pharmaceutical experiments if that’s what you’re worried about,” Yohji answered as he closed the door to the roses and moved to choose several Cattleyas from another section.

“You’re sure?” Omi asked finally, looking up his eyes were understanding but firm. It had been easy to see earlier that the older man was happy and had some strong feelings for the black winged man.

“I’m sure,” Yohji answered, sitting down at the table. “His name is Enzeru Baraku, I met him at that new bar I said I was going to check out last night. We hit it off and decided to come back here.”

“So what is he?” the small chestnut blonde inquired. It wasn’t unusual for Yohji to meet someone and bring him or her back to his apartment. What was unusual was that they were normally gone by morning.

“He’s an angel, one of the angels of death…”

“He’s really an angel, an angel from this… heaven, the Christians talk about?” Omi interrupted showing the first bit of surprise.

Yohji nodded. “I guess. We didn’t get that specific.”

“So what’s he doing down here? And I thought that angels had white wings?”

“He was kicked out because he made the “boss” angry,” Yohji explained. He went on to tell Omi about the man that Enzeru had slept with instead of ending his life, about his punishment and finally reluctantly about the deaths that followed behind him. He couldn’t hide the information not if there was the possibility of Enzeru’s ‘brothers’ coming back.

When the teen didn’t say anything for several minutes Yohji spoke again. “Omi, I need to know what you’re going to do. I don’t…”

“I’m not going to do anything Yohji,” the smaller blonde stated looking his friend in the eye, his expression open and serious. “How can I? I’m dating one of our enemy. Schwarz has tried to kill us more than once, well except Nagi, but still…” he trailed off then started again. “He makes you happy, he was an angel of death so the deaths before he was cast out were, I don’t know, meant to happen at those times. The ones after, maybe he could have prevented them by not interacting, but maybe not. And you say he protected you, did you see him do it?”

“No,” Yohji answered. He felt like he’d just dropped a hundred pound load of planting soil off his shoulders listening to Omi give his reasons for not wanting to turn his lover over to Kritiker or worse kill the angel himself. “But I found this by the bed when I was getting dressed. We know it’s not Enzeru’s.” He held up a white feather that almost sparkled with iridescence and was a foot long from tip to tip.

Omi’s eyes widened in shock and horror. “Yohji, it’s true? Damn it where is he? Are you safe alone if they kill anyone he’s been with?”

Yohji shrugged. “I don’t know, but we all already live looking over our shoulders for the next bullet or knife in the back so what’s changed?”

Omi nodded accepting the reality of that statement. The three of them that were left only occasionally worked for Kritiker now that Persia was dead but they still had enemies, including the other three members of his own boyfriend’s team.

“Oh and Omi…” Yohji watched his friend look up from the arrangement he was putting together, then reached in the pocket of his black apron and pulled out the pack of cigarettes he kept there. He saw Omi wrinkle his nose and grinned, casually dropping the pack in the garbage can between them.

“Yohji?” Omi’s eyes were wide and pleased.

“Enzeru can heal people, I think. At least that’s what he did last night in the club, a dancer cut his wrists right there in the barroom and Enzeru healed him,” the older blonde explained. “I guess I got caught in the backwash, I haven’t had a craving since the first time he kissed me at the bar, which was right after that.”

“Yes!” Omi clapped his hands and beamed.

“We’ll see how long it lasts,” Yohji told him and started working on the finishing touches of his own arrangement. “By the way, did you really get… excited this morning?” he asked looking over the tops of his sunglasses at the teenager, a small smirk on his lips.

Omi’s face flamed red. “Yohji!”

The ex-Detective snickered.

*****

End Chapter Thirteen