Alice's Sacrifice (Alice Clark Series)

by Andrea DiGiglio

  Cole’s eyes began to focus on the concrete floor below him. He could feel his body dangling above it from the shackles on his wrists. He tried to stand, but cringed in response. The lashings he had taken were sure to have left terrible gashes down his back. He forced his wings to stay hidden if only to avoid having them ripped to shreds, all the while blocking the excruciating pain from Alice. Tired didn’t even begin to describe his condition, and he could smell Purah and his hatred approaching.

  “Ah, he wakes,” Purah said.

  “Was beginning to think you had forgotten about me down here,” Cole answered calmly.

  “Of course not! You are the mate of our savior, so you are not easily forgotten.”

  “How’s that trade going anyway?” Cole asked.

  “Scared it will happen, nephilim?”

  “Scared it won’t?”

  “I’m bored and things have no use to me when I’m bored.” Purah glared into Cole’s eyes, while calling out to his bounty hunter, “Bring the Pendulum.”

  Cole stared, without breaking contact with him. He would look beyond Purah’s eyes, if there were such a thing. What he could sense was hatred and pleasure at his pain. He prepared for another round of torture, unsure if, after this one, he would want to survive or not. His captor’s slave entered from the darkness, wheeling a large device that looked like it was from the Middle Ages. The grotesque bounty hunter pulled Cole’s hands behind his back and tied them tightly, attaching them to the rope on the device. He knew he was running out of time and as the panic set in, Purah began to smile.

  “Would you like me to tell you what it does?” Purah asked.

  Cole stared at the wall ahead and ignored the offer. He needed to focus on blocking Alice and not on what was about to happen, whatever that was. The bounty hunter turned the handle, spinning the rope slowly, and this time Cole didn’t fight. The pressure built in his shoulders and he felt them begin to dislocate. “Ahhh!” he growled through the pain.

  “Tell her to trade!”

  “No!”

  “Finish it then,” Purah said, waving the other bounty hunter off as if this was nothing more than making breakfast.

  As the first shoulder completely dislocated, Cole erupted in a pain and terror-filled scream, completely breaking his block to Alice, as he had feared. Purah waved to stop and the bounty hunter obeyed.

  “Put his shoulder back in place and return him to his shackles.” Purah made a last order before leaving them alone.

  The cruel creature lowered Cole’s arms quickly and returned him to his prior position. Cole hung by one arm the best he could, with tears streaming down his face. The creature approached Cole to fix what he had done, but Cole stood and backed away, growling like an animal.

  “Look, Purah wants you fixed and trust me, so do you. Let me fix it before I decide to let it go.” He reached again for Cole. “Lean on the wall here and do not move,” he ordered. He grabbed his arm and counted to three before jamming his shoulder back into place. Cole erupted in another gut wrenching scream before nearly passing out. “Go ahead and sleep, it’s done. I’d dream about something you love. I don’t think he has any intention of letting you go.” Cole’s eyes closed tight as he prayed to see Alice’s face one more time.

  Alice turned the shower on hot and climbed in, sinking against the wall. She had never felt more defeated than she did in that moment. She closed her eyes and allowed the hot water to slip over her face and all around her skin. This was where she always went to think and deal with things, a place where afterwards, the water would wash it all away. No matter how hot the water, she couldn’t un-feel the torture Cole had endured. The shoulder was the last straw, no more waiting for another plan. Today she was going to trade. She had told everyone who happened to be in her kitchen cleaning it, that she was going. She told them to make their plans, choose their last words and help, or get out of her way. Cole, I don’t know if you can hear me, love, but I’m on my way. Hold on a little while longer. She slid down the wall and sat on the shower floor, crying in pain yet again. She didn’t want this, but she couldn’t leave the love of her life in hell because of her, even if it meant trading places.

  She turned the water off and reluctantly climbed out of the shower. She grabbed a towel and dried herself off before tying it around her. In her room she opened her jewelry box filled with feathers. She brought the box to her bed and stared into it, concentrating on each quill as if they were still attached. “Enough,” she told herself. She threw on a pair of beat up blue jeans, her army boots and a black beater tank. She wasn’t about to look special for a group of villains. She towel-dried her hair and stared into the mirror. “You can do this,” she told her reflection. She returned her jewelry box to its rightful place, leaving the latch open. She retrieved a letter from her desk that she had written for Cole and placed it in the box. If things went wrong and he were to look for a piece of her to cling to, it would be there. Gathering all the strength she could, she left her room for possibly the last time and headed down to her family.

  “Good morning, Alice,” Kokabiel said, handing her a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

  “Thanks, Kokabiel,” she said with a half smile. He was always so supportive in her decisions, regardless of his stance on them.

  “I know you have to do this but I wish you wouldn’t,” Paul said.

  “I know, Dad.”

  “We will do all we can to get you out of there as quickly as we can.”

  “I know, Sariel.” Sipping her coffee, she turned to the very quiet Jake. “Jake?”

  “I don’t like this idea, you going alone. This is ridiculous, even for you. You could get killed or worse, what is happening to Cole could happen to you!”

  Alice reached up and placed a hand on each side of his face, pulling his focus. “That’s why you will be with me every step until the trade, where you will take Cole home.”

  “Okay.” Jake said.

  “Okay?” Paul asked baffled.

  “Okay that she will at least take someone to complete the trade and to keep her from getting ambushed. If she is the one that could save us all, doesn’t she have the right to choose who she saves and how?” Jake’s eyes never left hers while he spoke; he was mesmerized by her human soul and, against his wishes, her human heart.

  “Okay,” Paul whispered in defeat. He stood up and crossed the room with that same old weight pushing him down into the ground. “I’m going to tell your mother what you are doing.”

  “Please tell Elizabeth for me, brother,” Kokabiel’s voice dripped with anguish. Paul nodded before closing the door behind him.

  Everyone looked as if they were already at Alice’s funeral. She could smell death coming. She just hoped it wasn’t coming for her. She let go of Jake’s face and looked down at her feet. “Jake? I need you to make sure when the trade happens you get Cole out of there and bring him here. I need your word. Once he’s healed, he’ll be angry and probably start more than a fight with you, but I need you to promise to save him for me just in case…” Jake scooped her up into his arms one last time, muffling her tears on his shirt. Jake, I’m not getting out of this one and I know you are against this, but I know you’ve known love and understand. I hope I’m wrong. I hope you save me, but if you don’t, I’ll always know how hard you tried. She spoke to Jake alone, with every right to express such private feelings, she thought. When she looked up, she wasn’t prepared to see one single tear slide down Jake’s face as he stared at her. She heard the others gasp and took a deep breath the way she used to, practically sucking the air from the room and bringing it to a stop. She studied Jake’s face and knew she was right that she could trust him with her life and Cole’s, because he loved her more than she loved him. She exhaled slowly, watching Jake’s eyes, knowing what she had done. He let go of her and stepped away, back into the counter.

  “You should say goodbye, finish your coffee, smoke a cigarette, whatever, to be safe,” Jake said in a monotone voice. He hated feeli
ng vulnerable and she knew that, but she also knew there was nothing she could do to change it.

  “Kokabiel, can you make me another cup?”

  “Of course.”

  Dad? I’m leaving soon. I love you and I’ll see you soon, she lied.

  Your mother wishes you her best. She thinks that’s hilarious. I love you; I will get you out of there if it’s the last thing I do on this wretched earth, Paul answered.

  Alice severed the connection as Kokabiel set down her mug of coffee, filled with hazelnut creamer. It was so silly to her how something so insignificant was something she would miss greatly. “Alright you guys, I’m not dead yet. You mind not making me feel like I’m at my own funeral?” Kokabiel laughed outright and tried to muffle it with his hand.

  “Alice, you are the most unique soul I’ve ever encountered. I will fight till the end for your freedom and return home,” Sariel said proudly.

  “As will I,” Kokabiel said with more seriousness.

  “And I,” Jake added.

  “I love you all, too,” Alice said. It was the most human response and therefore, the most appropriate. They all grinned happily until she turned for the door. “Keep in contact with Jake for progress, and I hope to see you all very soon,” she said forcing a smile.

  Kokabiel stood up and met her at the door. “Thank you for bringing my son home.” He pulled her into his arms and held her for a moment before letting her go.

  “That is exactly what I am about to do. Prepare for first aid as well,” she said. They nodded and watched her as she turned to leave. As soon as she felt Jake following, she headed out of her front door, hopefully not for the last time.

  Jake drove the car to where Purah had specified to meet originally, when Alice had told him to get bent. He struggled to hold back a laugh at the thought. Alice stared out the window, he was sure, with a racing mind and aching heart. He wasn’t sure how she got so deeply under his skin, but it was too late to care.

  “Jake?”

  “Yeah?” he answered. Preparing for the onset of the twenty questions she usually had, he stared out at the road and took a steady breath.

  “Can I beat Purah?” Alice asked warily.

  “I don’t know, Alice. He’s as dark as they come; no emotion, no conscience, no remorse. I don’t know if your new parlor trick is going work against someone like that.”

  “Did you just call my ability a parlor trick? I’m not a witch. I mean, I have no idea why I can do anything I do.” She stopped talking, looking baffled.

  “I’m sorry. This whole ‘not insulting you’ thing is new to me, cut me some slack.” He looked over to see Alice smiling at him. “What?”

  “It’s nice to see the man, or angel, you used to be. You usually have him buried under lock and key. I like him.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” They both laughed, but quickly stopped, feeling guilty. “Hey, you’re on your way to save him, to trade yourself into hell for him, so don’t do that.”

  “I know, I guess I’m just a little nervous. This bounty hunter doesn’t want to let me go until the End of Days, so I’m a little concerned I’ll be trapped in hell, so to speak.”

  “I will get you out,” said Jake, taking a breath to calm his voice. “We will have to penetrate his forces first, but I will get you out of there.”

  “I know you will,” was all she said.

  He couldn’t understand why she trusted him so much. Sometimes it seemed as if she cared for him as much as he did for her. He knew she loved Cole and that Cole was everything to her, but a piece of him felt loved by her, too.

  “I do care.”

  “What?” Was that out loud? He thought to himself.

  “I know you better than you think. I do care about you, probably more than I should.”

  “No such thing, we are like family and I care for you, too.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “It’s time to go save Cole; we’re here.”

  “Jake, stop it.”

  “Alice, I care, too much. Leave it alone. Like family, got it?”

  “Got it.” She ran her small hands through her hair and all he could think of was how she could survive this? They exited the car and began to walk across an abandoned parking lot into a stretch of woods. They almost wished it was the field of the damned; at least then they would feel less like they were about to be ambushed. A rustling in the trees made Jake shove Alice behind him protectively. A bounty hunter dropped from the tree in front of them.

  “Purah will be pleased,” he hissed.

  “Joyous, tell him to bring Cole out for the trade.”

  “Follow me.”

  Jake felt Alice clutch onto his side and the back of his shirt as they began to walk, but it didn’t distract him from noticing the bounty hunters flanking them. We’re being flanked. Alice nodded in response as they walked deeper into the woods. After twenty minutes or so, while being surrounded by bounty hunters, they finally approached a small, weather beaten house. Out from the shadows of the doorway stepped Purah.

  “Jake, I’m surprised to see you again,” Purah said with a smirk.

  “I asked for his presence,” Alice spoke from behind him. She stepped out with a fierce eye and a hunger to claw Purah’s eyes out. In such a crisis, she was still impressing him.

  “And for what, my dear?”

  “A little bird told me Cole would need a hand. Bring him out now or I’m leaving.”

  “You are not leaving,” he said, waving his hands at the snarling Jake. “I mean you won’t leave without him and for him to leave, means you are not leaving,” Purah reiterated.

  “I’m sorry, did I stutter? Bring him out now!” she ordered. Jake, get ready, this might get ugly.

  Jake nodded in silent agreement as he continued his stance, one wrong move and he was taking Purah down with him. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of never, Purah lifted his hand, ordering his men to stand down and fetch his prisoner. This time he heard Alice let a low growl slip between gritted teeth. “You’ll only have a short moment to say goodbye, if I take too long to take him, he may retract his trade. He’s a dirty piece of shit like that.”

  “I can hear you.”

  “I know,” Jake said. Alice laughed until her eyes met his. She jumped forward wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For you, anything.” He held onto her, breathing in her buttercream vanilla scent one last time. “Okay, no more being mushy. You hang on in there, you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear,” she half smiled and then froze. She turned to the doorway just as two bounty hunters dragged Cole’s beaten body through the door. “Cole!” she shrieked as she ran through Purah’s men to Cole, without thought or hesitation. Purah raised his hand, allowing her a goodbye. “Jake!” On cue he ran to her. Even with the distance between them he could see Cole was worse for wear. His shirt was shredded not from wings but from repeated lashings. Most of his skin was bruised, some new and some from days ago. Alice leaned into Cole’s limp body, lifting his head. “Cole? Please wake up, Cole.” Jake ran up and took Cole by one arm pulling him over his shoulder. Alice glared at Purah at the marks on his back from the whippings he had endured.

  “Breathe in his face,” Jake offered.

  “What?”

  “Your scent, Alice.”

  She turned back to Cole, grabbed his bruised jaw carefully and breathed into his face. Cole’s eyes snapped open as he strained to see what was in front of him.

  “Alice?” his voice cracked.

  “It’s me, Cole. I’m getting you out of here.”

  “No, you can’t!” he argued.

  “Shhh. It’s too late to change my mind and I wouldn’t anyway. I love you so much. Can’t you see I had no choice?” She took a deep breath to steady her voice, “Jake is going to get you home. You go home and heal and then come save me,” she whispered the last two words. She grabbed Cole’s beaten face with a force that looked painful. Col
e reached up and brushed a hair from her face and tried to smile. He rested injured fingers on her face, pulling her in slowly, kissing her the way she deserved to be kissed. With a soft peck on the forehead to follow his grand gesture, a peck that resembled a promise of his own.

  “I love you, too, I will fix this, my love,” Cole cried like Jake had never seen a man cry.

  “As adorable as this moment is, I’m bored and Cole knows what happens if I’m provoked when I’m bored,” Purah spat at the group.

  “Goodbye, love,” Alice said to Cole before hoisting the rest of him onto Jake’s shoulders. She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on Jake’s cheek and whispered a thank you, “Now go.” Reluctant or not, Jake brought Cole to his front side and lifted him off of the ground. He turned toward the woods, knowing that to protect him, he needed to evacuate as quickly as possible. With a bone-crushing thud, Jake’s wings outstretched widely at his sides. He bent down into a crouch and jumped into flight, to fulfill his promise to Alice to save Cole.

  “Seize her!” Purah barked.

  “Not wasting any time, I see,” Alice dared.

  “You won’t think you are so clever once you’ve been broken a few times.”

  She wanted to retort something, anything, but she was terrified, and she could attempt to hold it in all she wanted, but Purah knew it. All she could do was hold onto that last kiss, that small moment of victory as Jake and Cole disappeared beyond the tree line. She hoped that they drifted off into safety, but regrettably she knew Purah had eyes everywhere and nowhere was safe. Two bounty hunters walked up and grabbed her arms, bringing her up to Purah on her knees.

  “Just to clarify our arrangement, if you try to run or escape, I will kill all those who reside in your home before you have a chance to return to it. You are my prisoner and you will be punished for your crimes. You will only leave when the End of Days is upon us, to set us all free. Understand me?”