Shade explored the warehouse carefully, moving stealthily through a few empty rooms until she entered the vast, desolate storage area that was now filled only with darkness, except for a faint light shining down at the far end. She focused in on the light, but saw no signs of movement around it so she began to creep towards it, throwing attentive glances in all directions as she went. 

    She hugged the outside wall of the warehouse, which was lined with roll-up doors that opened to the loading docks, and in a semi-crouching stance she made her way closer and closer to the light. Outlines of objects she noticed during her approach revealed themselves to be an oil drum and a row of metal shelves as she got closer. Then, with a sudden pause, she saw a cage with someone lying face down inside. Even more alertly she crept closer.

    Corbin's familiar profile made Shade's heartbeat ramp up, and she wanted to zoom straight to him, but she stopped herself. With Corbin clearly being held captive the stakes were too high for her to let her usual brashness prevail. She steadied herself with a calm breath, surveyed her surroundings again, then moved cautiously toward the oil drum. 

    From behind the oil drum Shade examined Corbin more closely without revealing her presence. As he lay with his head turned away from her she considered the strength of the cage and the sturdy chains clasped to his arms and legs. She knew there was nothing she could do against such bonds, but she wanted to let him know that help was near before she went off to find Gideon.

    Sneaking over to the cage, she whispered,"Hey...Corbin..."

    Corbin rolled his head around at the sound, then his face momentarily exploded with joy and relief at the sight. "Shade, is it really you?" he asked hopefully.

    "The one and only," she quipped with her normal smirk, assuring him. "Gideon's here too," she added, to console any doubts he might have of his rescue.

    "I can barely move, these chains are too heavy," he informed as he squirmed against the heavy chains.

    "Don't worry, Gideon can take care of those," she said with knowing confidence.

    "Shade, listen. It's Jarell, he's real and he's here," Corbin warned.

     "Jarell huh? Well, after we get you free, we'll deal with him," Shade promised. "I'm going to find Gideon, don't worry, we'll be back real fast," she promised again.

    "I don't think he's alone Shade, be very careful," he pleaded, more concerned for her safety than his freedom.

    As Shade stood up and shrugged off Corbin's concerns with a witty remark, the oil drum behind her began to change shape, growing into a human form without them noticing.

    At the opposite end of the warehouse Gideon was close to wrapping up his search, having found nothing more than empty rooms with crumbling plaster walls. He wandered more openly in the darkness of the aged, forgotten building; relying on the attributes of his vampiric nature to be his advantage over anyone or anything he might find.  

    He wandered into one last room, scanned it thoroughly, and was about to turn and leave when a voice he hadn't heard in centuries entered the room behind him. It was a voice he remembered all too well.

    "I thought I smelled the foul stench of a vampire," Jarell prodded from the doorway. 

    "And now I hear the voice of a discarded angel, banished by his brothers because they found him to be insane," Gideon returned as he turned to face Jarell.

    Jarell stepped into the room with a malicious grin. "Oh come now Gideon, after five hundred years surely you can do better than that," he taunted.

    "So, going by Bardolph now are you?" Gideon said, brushing aside the taunt and revealing his knowledge of Jarell's alias as he sized him up with a casual glance.

    "Well, when one is as timeless as I am, one may use many names," Jarell answered, unimpressed by Gideon's discovery.

    "I should have known that fall did not take your life," Gideon said regretfully.

    "I have survived far greater falls than that," Jarell boasted,"and my life is eternal,"he added.

    Gideon braced his shoulders and skipped straight to the matter at hand with an absolute tone. "I will not let you harm Emma's son."

    Jarell chuckled under his breath. "Harm him? I wouldn't dare. That boy is my ticket to what is rightfully mine."

    "Ah, Jarell, I see the centuries have done nothing to tame your madness. Still scheming to conquer Heaven are you?" Gideon mocked with a belittling smirk and nod.

    "You should tread lightly Gideon, a vampire is no match for an angel," Jarell enticed with a wicked grin.

    Gideon smiled at Jarell's invitation for combat, then, in a brazen move, he rushed him in a surprise flash of movement that pitted the force of his momentum against Jarell's defenses, but Gideon's assault ended abruptly at the end of the angel's long outstretched arm when he was caught  by the throat. Gideon hissed and clawed at Jarell, who simply laughed at the angry, desperate vampire trapped in his grasp. Gideon violently tried to break free, but Jarell was too strong.

    At Shade's end of the warehouse the oil drum behind her had morphed into Sodi, Jarell's minion, whose hands grew into oversized anvil-like fists. He raised one up over Shade, stealing Corbin's attention from her as he saw the threatening limb rise up slowly from behind her. Before he could utter a warning to her, Sodi clubbed her with the bluntly shaped fist, collapsing her instantly into an unconscious pile on the dusty floor.

    Corbin screamed out at Sodi, who stood looking at him with soulless eyes, then he eyed his fallen sister sharply. The concern for Shade mingled with a rage against her attacker, who Corbin recognized from Kyle's house, and the power of Corbin's gift surged inside him. Within a blink the Protector's beastly form ripped through Corbin's clothes, separating the shackles at his wrists and ankles and filling the cage until the iron bars peeled away from It's pressing form. The top of the cage ripped away from the Protector's massive shoulders as It's back protruded upward, and when the change was complete the Protector was on hands and knees, aiming It's fanged snout at Sodi with a lethal flare in It's purple eyes. 

    The beastly Protector rose from the wrecked cage around It, keeping It's intentful glare on Sodi as It stood to a towering stature. It looked down at Shade for a moment, then snapped It's head back at Sodi with a mighty, vengeful roar that filled the warehouse, all the way to the room where Jarell had Gideon locked in his unyielding grasp.

    Jarell cocked his head to the direction of the sound, and Gideon ceased his struggle to free himself. A growing, satisfied chuckle from Gideon brought Jarell's head back around to him. "It is too late now Jarell, that is the sound of your failure," Gideon said through his chuckle.

    Jarell pulled Gideon close, squeezing his hand around his throat to crush his laughter, and glaring at him with an annoyed grimace; then he flung Gideon across the room, through the wall, outside of the warehouse into the unrestrained light of day. The vile angel then shot off in a haze to check on the disturbance as Gideon writhed in agony under the rubble as the sunlight seared his flesh.