by Tamsin Baker
It was something I wasn’t sure I regretted or not. I understood I was not entitled to her. And yet, I couldn’t help the way I felt. And if those feelings were natural, were they bad? Were they really bad enough to get me cast out of paradise?
We continued walking through the streets, weaving around the many people still bustling to and from work. Going to dinners, theatre, drinks.
Kadie poked me in the ribs. “I don’t believe you. There’s more to it than that.”
Are you reading my thoughts again?
“Well... Teramea is a Goddess, one of the many daughters of the Supreme Being,” I explained.
“Whoa, you mean God has other children as well?”
She seemed shocked and my mind pulled up the many Christian stories told of the Supreme Being.
“Yes, well.... It’s hard to explain. There are actually many Gods and Goddesses in Heaven, but there is only one Supreme Being that created us all, yes. And she was his daughter.”
“Was?”
Wrong way to phrase it.
“Well, still is. I just haven’t seen her in several hundred years.” And for many centuries I had yearned for the touch of her hand on mine once more.
But as I searched my heart for the pain usually present when discussing Teramea, it appeared my feelings had changed.
Kadie frowned, her thumb caressing the back of my hand. I don’t think she even knew she was doing it. “Really? That’s tough. She couldn’t come down and visit or anything?”
This is where it gets tricky.
“Why is it tricky?” She glanced up at me with those penetrating blue eyes and my breath vanished. How could she have such a strange effect on me? How could she change who I thought I was with merely a glance, a touch? I didn’t understand it.
I shook my head. Why am I trying to keep things from someone who can read my mind?
“Yes, why are you keeping secrets?”
I heaved out a sigh. There was no keeping anything from Kadie. “The truth is, I fought for the hand of the Goddess. And won.”
“So, what was the problem?”
My chest heavy as I remembered that terrible day. I tightened my hold on Kadie’s hand and she gave me a reassuring squeeze. “The problem was, we are forbidden to fight in Heaven amongst ourselves. That was my first mistake. And the other thing was that in winning the fight, I killed him... her husband. One of the most powerful of us all. And I was thrown out of Heaven for my sin.”
We stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Pedestrians got disgruntled by our inconsideration, pushing around us, grumbling under their breath. I was surprised someone didn’t come right out and say anything.
She looked up at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. “And you want to go back?”
“Of course. It’s my home. The final destination for all those who are good in this world.”
Her gaze dropped away and a sadness crept over her face and posture.
“Hmmm... I’ll take your word for it.” She didn’t continue, so we resumed our walk.
I looked around and decided to do some reconnaissance. “We’re here so you go in and I’ll be here waiting for you when you finish.”
She kissed me softly on the lips and hurried inside the old building we stood in front of. I glanced up. By the looks of it, the place used to be an old church. Converted and gutted into a community building for all. She should be safe here. Should being the operative word. But I learned that holy spaces were not as revered on earth as they once were.
Chapter 6.
I was glad to get away from Kadie, just for the moment. When she was gone from me, I felt myself breathe again. Like I was myself and not someone else. I didn’t like feeling weak and vulnerable, and telling her about my past definitely made me feel that way.
The sun cast its last rays of light over the landscape before sinking beneath the horizon. Dinnertime for most humans.
A bedraggled woman struggled along the foot path before me and stumbled inside the old church. One of the many lost souls on this planet. Someone Kadie wanted to help.
My lips tilted up at the thought. Humans were an interesting species. Some could be so incredibly selfish while others were kind and giving. I knew all sorts of humans who possessed all sorts of positive and negative traits. However, there was something about Kadie that transcended everyone I had met.
I stepped back. Worry knit my brow together and I frowned. Was I putting her on an impossible pedestal? She was still human, after all. She wasn’t perfect by any means. Her nonchalance about everything grated on my nerves and her flippancy regarding the safety of her own life was frustrating to say the least. And these powers she had...
Magic wasn’t regarded highly by those who interpreted the Supreme Creator’s book. In fact, they thought such a thing came from the devil himself.
They were wrong about that, but all the intricacies of magic eluded me. I was still trying to figure out who she was and why I felt the way I felt around her.
Heat tingled on my neck and I saw a telling flicker of flame on the rooftops above me.
They were here. Again. Despite my presence. And despite the loss of their numbers from last night. Anger rippled in my gut, and also a sense of foreboding.
I was tasked with protecting her, and we had crossed some sort of line, I took the Demons and their desire for her personally.
I watched as a couple more flames appeared from the darkness. They must really want her. As Tabitha had foretold, Kadie was much more special than we’d originally thought. All the signs were pointing to it. Demons were usually only assigned to one person, and once I’d killed them off, there was no one else to hunt my Target. Thus I could move on and I knew they were safe.
It seemed that a second group of Demons had been assigned to Kadie. And I didn’t think they’d stop sending Demons any time soon.
I pulled on my invisibility like a cloak, flexed my wings, and with a rush of adrenaline, flew up the building in front of me. I landed on the flat rooftop and growled at the Demon standing before me. They would not get through. I would not let them.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I said to the creature before me.
He spat fire back at me, the flames catching my hoodie. I smacked at them with my hand, burning my palm in the process.
Better my fingers than my wings.
I drew my sword from my back and raced forward, my heart pounding as I sliced at the flickering embodiment of Hell. Demons did not deserve to be on this plain, especially when their main function was to hunt those aiming for the Pearly gates.
They were wrong. Un-natural. Evil.
The Demon darted around the roof top and eluded my sword. They had no weapons except their ghoulish faces and heated bodies that seared anything they touched. My pulse quickened as the heat from the demon’s body made my skin sweat.
It danced with me as I swung and parried. I was loathe to admit how much pain a Demon could elicit simply from touching my skin. I clenched my sword tighter in my grasp and growled at the in-human thing between my teeth. I did not want to think about them harming me in any way so that I couldn’t protect Kadie.
If anything were to happen to her...
I swung again, but the Demon jumped out of the way.
Blasted thing.
I flexed forward and back, then another appeared. And then another.
Excitement zinged in my veins and the beginnings of a smile lifted my lips.
Now this was good. A proper challenge. It had been a while since they’d tested me. Attacked me with enough Demons to make the fight deadly for me. Pride wove through my heart as I thought of the little Witch below us.
Kadie really must be a prize to those in the hell dimension.
But she was mine.
I banished the possessive thought. I refused to reduce her to an object meant to bolster me or whoever won her affection.
And yet, I couldn’t help that swell of pride in my chest. It made me want to fight all the more for her.
A loud scream cut into my mind like a knife and I faltered in my stance as I moved sideways.
No.... Kadie...
One of them swiped out at me, catching one of my wings and the feathers instantly burst into flames.
No. I dove to the concrete and rolled, putting out the flames. “Fu...uck!”
That part of my wing would never repair. I growled with menace as the realization hit me. They had deliberately separated us. I should have stayed down at ground level with her, rather than following the temptation of the Demons dancing above.
How could I let myself be distracted by my thoughts, by my tempting pride? With my focus on these things, some Demons snuck past me and managed to get to her.
I had failed – not only my mission, but Kadie herself.
I turned my back on the triple Demon flames still fighting me and took a running leap. I threw myself off the edge of the building, extended my wings and flew straight down to my Target.
My lover.
The Demons cries of rage rang in my ears as I flew down the building. Under normal circumstances, I would revel in the sound. However, I needed to refocus. The Demons had proved that they had no problem taking advantage of my cockiness.
My wings flapped strongly for a moment before I hit the ground, making the small shrubs that grew out of the pavement falter and lie down. I righted myself until my feet hit the cement, then I ran straight into the hall.
People were running about, screaming at the top of their lungs. Kadie was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is she? Where’s Kadie?” I asked as I grabbed one of the men who ran by.
“The kitchen,” he said, his voice quivering and his teeth chattering together.
They were here. Inside a church. Showing themselves to the world.
Fuck. Have I missed something? When did the rules change?
Demons were not allowed to be in sacred buildings nor were they allowed to reveal their true selves. This was unlike anything I had ever heard about in all my time on earth. If this was a possibility, why had Tabitha not warned me?
“Gabriel!”
I stopped completely. All questions vanished. Somehow, through the chaos, I recognized Kadie’s voice. I had to get to her.
I ran straight through the door and saw Kadie standing on the kitchen counter, holding out her arms to three Demons who circled her. Her white light shined for all to see, like an angel’s halo, only a thousand times brighter. The Demons turned black as her magic hit them as they failed to get close enough to hurt her.
I could tell she was losing steam, however. Using her power in excess when she never had to before was taking its toll on her. If I didn’t do something, she would weaken and the Demons would take advantage of it. Right now, they seemed to be biding their time and waiting for such a moment, as though the death of their own would be worth it just as long as they could get their hands on her.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I drew my sword and sliced one of their heads off, satisfaction rippling through me as it crumpled to the ground. The other two turned to me and I killed one, then the other, slicing their heads off their flaming bodies.
“Oh, my fucking... God!” Kadie exclaimed and I cringed at the blasphemy.
She jumped down from the wooden bench top, her whole body shaking. “What do they want?” She seemed more angry than afraid, which kept me calmer. I could work with anger. I was unfamiliar with tears. Tears – and overly emotive humans – made me uncomfortable.
“They want you. That’s clear. But I’ve never seen them attack someone so openly before.”
“They look like they want to kill me!” she panted, sweat dripping down her forehead and onto her cheeks. “You said they would try to torture me so I’d go to Hell. What’s with this shit?”
She was right, and it raised an even more puzzling question. Demons didn’t kill humans, they wanted their souls. And the only way their souls went to Hell was if they committed suicide.
Unless Kadie had already done something so abhorrent she was going to be sent to Hell no matter what? I shook my head, no. That didn’t sound like Kadie.
Kadie represented everything that was good and pure in this world. She didn’t cause harm and she didn’t indulge...
I stopped. No... it wasn’t possible.
If the Demon killed a human, the human would go straight to Heaven normally, because the Demons only hunted those pure and special. So why were these Demons attacking, rather than torturing, Kadie?
Was it possible this form of torture was aimed at making her do something rash to get away from them? But it didn’t look like it. They truly did look like they were trying to grab her, not just torture her, which would make death certain for Kadie.
“I agree.” I took her hand in mine and tilted her head up with my palm. “It makes no sense. Which means we need to get you home. Now.” I couldn’t stop the way my voice came out, much rougher than anticipated. But thankfully, for once she didn’t argue with me.
“Let’s go out the back door,” Kadie suggested as she pulled me into a small, dark courtyard. I wrapped her in my arms and flew us home.
What did the Demons want with her? And why would they want to lose her soul to kill her human body? Or was this the new way to torture talented Witches?
Or was their true target me? I didn’t like to make assumptions or turn something that had nothing to do with me about something that might involve me. If I could stay out of garnering unwanted attention, I would. However, what if they were tired of me doing my job? What if this was their way to get their revenge? Maybe they were trying to provoke me into doing something I should not do because of the laws and nature of my being I was forced to follow.
Because I, for one, did not know what I’d do if they caught her now. She’d become far too important to me in such a short amount of time.
How did the Demons know this, though? I barely came to grips with it.
I didn’t know the answers to all my questions. And that scared me, most of all. I did not like being unprepared. But I was. And I did not know how to fix it.
When we arrived back at her house, we let ourselves inside and I rushed to the shower to heal my wings. Water proved the salve for all.... even Demon burns. It purified even the blackest of souls.
Kadie stripped her clothes from her delicious body and joined me in the large shower. I adjusted the cold water to warm for her, and pulled my wings into my sides once again.
She grumbled to herself as she roughly washed her hair, white sudsy bubbles flowing down onto her shoulders. I stared at her, unable to help myself. She was so incredibly beautiful, the perfect distraction from my noisy, incessant thoughts. I loved everything about her. The rise of her cheekbone, the curve of her lip.
Apparently Kadie wasn’t one to lie down and give up at the first sign of stress or pressure. Oh no, quite the opposite, in fact. I continued to watch her, and for some reason, I couldn’t see any signs of her magical origins. In the past, I’d often believed that Witches had special markings upon their bodies so that they were easy to spot, but I could see nothing obvious on Kadie.
And speaking of which... I needed to address something with my little Witch.
“You’re not going to continue with the lie now, are you? That you didn’t know you had powers?” I didn’t want to talk about this here, with both of us completely nude, but I needed to bring this up to her. After the last attack, I had my suspicions, but seeing her fight only moments before only confirmed them. She was in more control over herself than she wanted others – even me – to know. And if we were going to trust each other, she needed to be honest with me.
Kadie had tilted her head back as she rinsed the soap from her hair. At my question she dropped her chin and our gazes met. Finally, I could see the conflict in them. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her, waiting.
She looked away.
“You did know, Kadie. How could you not tell me?” I did not know
why my heart tightened, like a bruise that had just been inadvertently touched. Being hurt by someone meant someone had attacked my physical body, not my emotions. Not my soul. This was an overwhelming feeling and I wished I could step back and not feel so damn much.
She turned off the water and grabbed a towel, quickly drying herself before wrapping a large white robe around her slender frame. “It’s not as simple as that, Gabriel.”
My first reaction was anger. I’d broken a major law for her, risked everything. And she hadn’t been honest with me? But I slid the shower door open and waited for her to respond. Her eyes followed my collarbone down to my chest and then lower before she yanked her gaze back up to my face.
“Then explain it to me,” I urged her, my voice gentle. I wanted to scream and yell and hitting the slick tile in the shower would definitely make me feel better for a second or two. But I knew she would not respond well to my anger, so I waited.
She ran her hands through her tangled hair, biting her lip as though deciding whether she’d confide in me or not.
Finally, she nodded and took my hand, leading me to her bedroom and sitting down on the mattress with me. “I’m a Witch, I think. I’ve known most of my life that I had these powers.”
That didn’t sound very certain. “What do you mean, you think?”
She started to pick at her robe. The soot from the fire was clinging to her clothes that were crumpled in the corner of her room, like a rejected lover. Her nostrils flared. “My mother died giving birth to me, and I never knew my father,” she said.
Her eyes were still focused downward. I wanted to wrap my arm around her, I wanted to let her know that she was okay now and if she could listen to my past, I was more than happy to listen to hers without judgment. But I didn’t want to touch her if that was something she wasn’t interested in. I didn’t know if physical comfort reassured her or if it irked her. I could only hope my presence was enough to remind her that I was here for her no matter what. “I was raised by the system...which means a whole lot of foster families. I was luckier than most and my foster parents weren’t too bad. When I aged out at eighteen, I was able to get a job at a daycare center due to my experience with my foster brothers and sisters.”
