Chapter 9

Edward quickly sped towards the large white structure in the early pre-dawn hours. This time he could not indulge himself in the joys of flight; he had a mission to accomplish. At his sides were two of his captains, Wan and Armand, and right behind the trio flew six hundred of their warriors.

Edward and his troops maintained their swift pace as they approached the White House. Part of their plan was to make it appear that they were going to pass the building by on their way to another place. Instead, Edward, followed quickly by his army, made a ninety-degree turn in midair and dove straight down into the top of the White House. The Enemy's forces were caught entirely by surprise, or at least that's what Edward thought.

The surprise of the dark warriors appeared to last for some minutes, allowing Edward and his troops to penetrate through the roof of the building and begin fighting on the top floor. It was then that Edward noticed something was wrong. Although the number of enemy spirits was decreasing as Edward and his troops continued to slice into their ranks, they were disappearing too quickly for that to be the sole reason. They were simply fading back and out of sight, they were barely resisting at all.

Armand also noticed this, "Something's wrong, Captain!"

"I know. Why aren't they fighting?" He wouldn't have to wait long for his answer.

Robert stood, with about sixty of his warriors, on a rooftop near the White House; the rest of his squadron was grouped on other rooftops around the block. He was quickly learning that he hated being in charge of reinforcements. When the rest of the army had charged the field soon after Edward's perfectly executed surprise thrust, he realized that he wanted to be down there, in the thick of things.

"Don't worry sir," another warrior said, misinterpreting his leader's facial expressions. "I'm sure they'll manage."

"I know, Christopher." Robert told the young spirit. That's the problem, he didn't add, they'll succeed without us. Then he saw something that chilled his soul.

As Robert watched, thousands of enemy spirits suddenly erupted up out of the ground. The black geyser shot up and fell back on the building, covering it in darkness.

Ambush! The young captain thought. Edward and all the others were completely cut off and, with the addition of those reinforcements; Robert knew that his companions were hopelessly outnumbered. This is what his squadron was here for. He heard a heavy rustle of wings behind him as he stood to give the command to charge. They must be as anxious as I for battle, he thought as he lifted the bugle to his lips. Before it got there, however, a rough hand shoved itself over his mouth, and two more pairs of hands bound his arms and disarmed him. The hands turned Robert around.

Where, a few moments before, had stood his sixty fighters now stood fully three times that umber of enemy warriors. Not a single member of his outfit was present, and Robert knew that he would never see them again in this existence.

Edward heard what sounded like a hurricane outside. He glanced, away from his current opponent, over to the window and shuddered when he saw the dark warriors rushing at him. He fought like a dervish, but he was surrounded. It was not long before he felt a blow to the back of his head and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

He awoke to discover that he was shackled to a wall. As he looked around the room, he saw that he wasn't alone. All of his captains were likewise chained to the wall of the dimly lit, oval shaped room. As he looked at the bruised faces of his unconscious companions, a door opened.

In the weak light, Edward hadn't seen the door, but now looking at it; he realized it probably fit seamlessly into the wall and would be hard to see anyway. A figure walked through the bright portal and closed the door behind him, returning Edward to the almost perfect darkness of his captivity. His ears straining, Edward heard the rustling of a robed figure approaching. A figure-blacker than the darkness-came into view. As Edward strained to make out details-any details at all-of the creatures' appearance, it suddenly raised its hand and a flame of light appeared in its palm.

It wasn't a man. Edward could now see it was an enemy spirit, but that was not what chilled his blood and blurred his vision-what froze his heart was that he knew the spirit. Every detail of the face was familiar, save the jagged scar that ran over the foul creature's right eye and down to his chin. Edward was pretty sure he knew precisely where that scar had come from, though.

"Dominus." He breathed, voice ragged with pain and exhaustion, "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Hello Edward," the dark spirit sneered, "I've missed you. I've thought of you every day since I last saw you... since the moment you gave me this accursed scar!" Dominus' spat out the last few words as anger contorted his face.

"And is this your chance to get even for that?"

"Oh yes, yes indeed." Dominus had regained his self-control and was now grinning wickedly, "Tell me my dear Edward, did you know that we were ready for you?"

"Yes, I realized that... your spy kept you well informed."

"Oh! You knew there was a spy then? Would you like to know who it was?"

Edward did not answer; he refused to give this evil creature the satisfaction of seeing him beg.

Dominus smiled and began to walk around the room. "Which one do you think it is, Edward?"

"Just tell me you damnable spirit!" Edward roared unable to contain his frustration.

Dominus looked Edward in the eye and drew his dagger. Then, still looking directly at his enemy's face, he threw the blade. It swished through the air then dug into the wall, neatly severing the ropes that shackled Wan's feet to the wall.

"Thank you Dominus." Wan said, "Now would you please release me so I can get out of this hellhole?"

"You son of a bitch!" Robert screamed, cursing for the first time in Edward's memory.

"Come now," Wan said gently, "is that really called for? It's nothing personal; I simply lost confidence in the path I had chosen. I've been watching the way the tide of battle has been turning against us for years, and I want to be on the winning side. Betraying you was simply the price I had to pay to show them I was sincere. Ok, Dominus... any time now."

"Yes, of course." Dominus walked up to Wan and removed his dagger from the wall, "Release you." With that, he thrust his blade up and into the small Oriental's gut. Wan's soft, almond-shaped eyes lost their self-satisfied smirk and grew wide and round with surprise. The traitorous spirit screamed his betrayal as he slid out of existence.

"Never trust a traitor; you never know when they might betray you."

"Thanks for the words of wisdom." Edward replied dryly.

"Oh, they won't do you any good; soon you'll be too dead to apply them."

"I wouldn't count on it." This time, it was Tristan who spoke.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Come here and I'll tell you."

Cautiously, Dominus approached him. He seemed to have enough faith in the rope shackles, however, to put up his knife. He realized how mistaken he was, when he got to Tristan. The young warrior let him get within a foot before he moved. Once he did, though, he was almost too swift to follow. Moving like lightning, he tore his legs from the bonds that held then and wrapped them around Dominus' arms and dropped down upon the dark angel, knocking him to the floor.

"Do I kill him Commander?" Tristan asked hopefully, examining the body at his feet and finding the hideous spirit unconscious.

"No time, we've got to get out of here, cut us loose."

Tristan reluctantly did as he was told, after first binding the comatose Dominus in the same ropes he had been tied with.

"Make sure you tie them tighter than he did," Robert grinned, "Wouldn't it be ironic if he slipped them the same way you did?"

I wish I knew what he did with our weapons." Edward muttered as Tristan began cutting his bonds.

"They over here by me, boss." Mikhail spoke up from across the room, I seen 'em when he came in."

"Good," Edward replied, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had chafed them. After a moment the tingling faded and he stepped over to the spot Mikhail had indicated. Once rearmed, he began helping Tristan to free the others.

After they were all loose, Edward led his captains out of the room and they began searching for an unguarded exit. This turned into a mad dash almost immediately when a patrol spotted them and began chasing them down the hall.

"Run!" Edward shouted. This proved unnecessary though, as most of his troops had already started sprinting away from the approaching enemy.

"Go on, I'll cover you, sir." Tristan said, drawing his weapon.

Edward nodded once and turned to lead his soldier's to safety.

As Edward and his angels ran down the hall, Melissa looked back and exclaimed in surprise, "Where's Tristan?"

Edward looked back without breaking stride. Sure enough, the big blonde warrior was not behind them.

"We don't have time to stop and look for him now, unless we all want to end up dead."

"Sorry about that Edward," Melissa murmured, "I never even suspected Wan; he always seemed so... devout."

"I didn't either." Armand added.

"I did. Wan was very clever, and I didn't even suspect him myself until it was almost too late. He finally gave himself away, however. But we can't dwell on that now; we've got to get out of here."

It was then the spirits turned a corner and ran straight into the waiting forces of the Enemy.

After eliminating the patrol, Tristan began to quickly follow his friends and allies. He hoped that he would be able to catch up with them quickly. This hope was soon dashed, however. As the blonde warrior jogged past a branch in the corridor he was following, an arm shot out and grabbed his wrist, pulling the startled soldier off balance and into the passageway.

Tristan was thrown up against a wall and found himself staring into the eyes of a huge spirit. The dark creature held him against the wall with one hand, while the other leveled his enormous sword at Tristan's throat.