by A. J. Rand
“Thank you, Gabriel. I hadn’t considered that.” The honesty went over well. There was no arrogance from him, no attitude at all. He simply accepted it with a nod. It was so much better when we could all play nice.
“So what’s the plan?” Chaz asked while Sariel and Father David headed toward the door.
I pulled out the bronze box from the inside of my jacket and stared at it with a smile. “I’m bringing in reinforcements.”
* * *
Black Wolf was waiting for me this time when I entered the dreamscape. It was a simple matter for me to head straight to his web-laden lair. He even had the women of the coven bound in place. He had gotten an early start tonight.
I’d taken a little extra time before slipping into the dreamscape. Marduk had given me a specific set of instructions in order to pre-activate the amulet in the box. The amulet would come with me into the dreamscape. I had to be precise in the timing of its use.
Ke had my back. I could feel his energy tapped into mine. I had to admit, as much as I preferred to work alone, it gave me a strange sense of comfort to know he was there. I waited a few seconds and then stepped up to the edge of the chasm.
“You’re late.” Black Wolf smiled. “We had to get started without you tonight. Why don’t you come in and join us?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t think so.”
He vanished from the center of the web. I tensed with readiness, expanding my secondary awareness. Even knowing that he would pop in behind me, I was still caught off guard. I hadn’t even felt him. He was definitely hooked into some powerful mojo.
The warmth of his breath on the back of my neck gave him away. Too bad he had never gotten the hang of the fact that you don’t need to breathe in the dreamscape. Most people never got the hang of little things like that. You can do anything, be anyone. People went with what was familiar with them in the physical. It worked to my advantage.
I was able to dodge the push Black Wolf intended for me, to try and force me into the web. That put him off balance, and I carried through by turning and sending him to his knees. Before he could react, I grabbed the bronze medallion in my hand and yanked the chain from my neck, breaking the delicate links.
“Malah!”
The medallion started burning in the palm of my hand as I invoked the name of the spirit bound by the engraved seal. I grabbed a fistful of Black Wolf’s hair and shoved him down to bare the back of his neck. He finally regained his senses enough to struggle, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I slapped the seal to the base of his neck and activated it.
“Bach Acha Dugga!”
Black Wolf twisted, trying to get away, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. The seal was burning me as much as it was him. Wisps of smoke started to escape from the point of contact.
A bright light flared from the seal, blinding me. It took a moment for the spots to clear from my eyes. When they did, I was again caught off guard. Around the web, hovering just above the edges was a circle of angels.
I had no idea that would happen. Marduk hadn’t mentioned anything about angels. A secondary glance gave me my answer. I saw Sariel in the circle, at a position close to me. The seal of Marduk didn’t release these angels. They were the Grigori.
Black Wolf must have sensed my hesitation, because he used my distraction to twist away and scramble to the center of the web. It didn’t matter. The connection was broken. I only had a few minutes time to do what I needed to do.
Calling on the energy, I pulled it in. Ke already had it waiting, holding it ready in reserve. I felt him at my back, heart center to heart center. We fit to each other like a single being. His arms wrapped around and held to mine. As one entity, we sent the lines out to strike Black Wolf, to envelope him in a solid glow of violet and blue energy.
From the dreamscape, we drew on the webbing that held the women of the coven in place. It fell away from them and snaked its way to the light. The strands of the web began to glow with the infused power that we controlled. It wrapped around him like a cocoon, tightening to fit him like a second skin.
The women began standing up one by one. The web no longer had its sticking ability to hold them. Black Wolf noticed and struck out at them. Nothing happened. He tried again, with the same result. There was no more power in the dreamscape for this dream stalker. He was done. The ladies caught on pretty quick. Emboldened by his inability to harm them, they inched closer to the man who had tormented them for all this time.
I raised a hand to stop them, but the words stuck in my throat. With a shrug, I let it drop. It was their turn. They needed this. I turned my back as Pietra delivered the first kick and Jane and Joan were taking their swings, and I walked away to leave them to their task. Black Wolf couldn’t stop them. Heck, he couldn’t even leave the dreamscape until he woke up on his own. As far as the dream world was concerned, he had been neutered like the dog he was.
When I turned, I found the Grigori in front of me again. It was that disconcerting surreality of the dreamscape. At the center of the circle of angels was a huge chalice. I took a step forward and found myself sitting within the curved cup.
It began to spin, but the rotation was gentle. The Grigori surrounded me, and the chalice rose to lift me to the stars. Or were the stars coming down to meet me? It was both and neither at the same time.
When I would come close to a star, one of the Grigori would break away from the circle, fly to the star and grab it out of the sky to drop it into the chalice with me. It was like some bizarre game of celestial basketball. The essence of the stars turned to liquid power at my feet. My body absorbed it, and began to glow with the light of the stars. The magic of it created a charge in me the likes of which I have never experienced. Every part of my body––my skin––my hair––everything glowed with the power.
Eventually, the sky was empty. Only blackness remained, except for the light of a single star, one that began to glow to blinding proportions––like the light of the sun directly in front of me. Sariel went to the star and brought it to me, as the Grigori had brought the others. Her eyes met mine and she let the star fall into the cup, causing it to spill over with the excess energy. A trumpet sounded through the darkness and I closed my eyes to the sound, letting it carry me away from the dreamscape.
Sariel’s voice echoed in my head with a single word. “Baktun.”
It was a few minutes before I came back to my body. The power of the celestial bodies still soared through my body, energizing me as I rode the wave to stillness. When I finally opened my eyes, it was to the darkness of my bedroom. I looked down at my body, half expecting it to still be glowing with the energy. It didn’t, but I could feel its power inside of me. I could also feel Ke’s arms wrapped around me, as they had been in the dreamscape. Our bodies were molded together, his front to my back.
It felt good to be held that way. I didn’t want to move, but knew I had to. Pulling away, but gently, I felt him loosen his hold. Instead of moving the rest of the way out of his arms, I turned over so he still held me, but now we were lying with our faces inches apart.
“We did it.” He whispered with an uncertain smile.
There was a flash of longing in his eyes. I knew it matched my own. I lifted my hand up to touch his cheek. My eyes searched his for––something––but I wasn’t sure what.
Ke moved forward and captured my lips in his. The kiss was tender at first. His taste was rich, intoxicating. I could still feel our energy entwined, and now our bodies were entwined to match it. The kiss deepened, became more demanding. I gave into it freely, full of demands of my own.
Then he stopped. He turned his head away, groaning into the pillow while he tried to push back to create space between us.
I was confused. “Is something wrong?”
“This is wrong.” He pushed himself up to sit at the edge of the bed. He wouldn’t even look at me. “We can’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t do this, Yeshua.” He shoo
k his head. “I would not be able to hold out against your desires, and my own, for long.”
I shrugged. “So don’t.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.” The irritation came into my voice with my rising frustration levels.
He shook his head again and left the room. I lay there for a while, still feeling the celestial power from the dream, still feeling his energy intertwined inside of me, and worse, still feeling the way his lips felt against mine.
I heard the shower start up on the other side of the bedroom wall. Good job, Yesh, I chided myself as I curled up and tried to relax enough to sleep. Having turned down blatant invitations from two separate immortals in as many days and here I was, trying to entice a Grigori into my bed––angels known for their sexual liaisons with humans––and he preferred a cold shower. For me, the energy singing through my body combined with the thrill of victory was a powerful aphrodisiac. I drifted off to sleep, reconsidering the possibility of paying Marduk another visit tomorrow to thank him for his help tonight.
Chapter 17
While drifting somewhere between the state of waking and sleeping, I started to become aware of my surroundings. The burnt orange color inside my eyelids told me it had to be mid to late morning at the very least. That surprised me on two fronts, the first being that I was an early riser. Sleeping late was not my style. The second was that I was pretty certain my living room was full again with my ‘guests’. As much as everyone seemed to want a piece of me, I hadn’t expected they’d give me the courtesy of sleeping in.
That made me grimace. Okay, so maybe not everyone wanted a piece of me. Ke had turned down a big piece of me––one I hadn’t offered to anybody in a very long time. I guess it was his loss. My mind wandered to Marduk and the thought of going over to thank him today. It was a pleasant thought, but one that was going to have to remain a juicy diversion in my mind for the time being. I would never get past the angelic militia camped in my apartment without giving them an answer.
I didn’t want to think about it, but I had finally reached the point of decision. More time might have been bought if that fourth trumpet hadn’t sounded. What was it Sariel had said? Oh yeah––Baktun. The thirteenth vessel in the Mayan prophesies that heralded the end of the world. I had no idea when the fifth trumpet would sound, which meant I had run out of time.
With a low moan, I rolled over and opened my eyes. I think a small part of me hoped the Grigori had changed his mind. There was a small dash of disappointment at seeing the empty space in the bed next to me. I had to scold myself for that bit of wishful thinking. He’d already made it clear he didn’t want me in that way.
That wasn’t true, either. I continued the roll that took me to the edge of the bed. Ke seemed to want me as much as I wanted him––or at least as much as I had wanted him last night. So what was the deal then? I had no clue and a morning haze over my thought processes. It didn’t make for a good combination to puzzle my way through to answers.
The smell of coffee filled the conscious part of my brain when I finally got around to leaving my room. But that’s not where I was headed yet. I needed to take a page from Ke’s book and hop into a cold shower.
After brushing my teeth, I stared for a long time in the bathroom mirror. It was a vanity thing, one of my morning rituals. Look for wrinkles, check for grey hair––I wasn’t any different than any other woman out there in that regard. In some ways, maybe I was worse. I hung out with beings that were thousands of years old and didn’t show their age. How fair was that? Whenever I had to deal with these things, the thought of what immortality would mean always slipped into the recesses of the mind, whether consciously or sub-consciously.
There were days when the thought of immortality was a craving. I mean, who wouldn’t consider the possibility of living forever, growing and watching a changing world? Then there were days like today, when I looked into the mirror at the bruises on my chin and neck, the dark circles under my eyes, and the worst part––the tiredness of it all that stared back at me. Those were the days when I prayed reincarnation was a certainty and that I’d paid off enough karma in this lifetime to come back as something a little less complicated––like a tree frog. I’d settle for being a bag lady.
Now I had some pretty strong evidence that reincarnation was a reality. Look at the amount of karma Ithane had bought off with her deeds. Yet here I was, and I had to do it all over again. It makes me wonder what she had racked up over the years in karmic debt, to end up coming back as me.
I pushed away from the sink, hopped in the shower and turned it on full cold. It made me jump at first, but soon my body numbed to it. I wish my mind were that numb. I stared at the soap for a long time before picking it up and starting to scrub away. I was procrastinating and I knew it. The time had come for me to make a decision and I knew already what it had to be.
Once I set my mind to it and the plan began to form, I was able to throw myself into getting ready to face the inquisition squad. It was time. I wrapped my bathrobe snug around me, and headed out into the living room. I almost giggled, imagining what must be going through the minds of those who waited for me. They stared in silence, watching me cross the room in bare feet, wet hair and an oversized fuzzy bathrobe––the perfect picture of the person who was their ideal savior to humanity. What a joke.
Chaz had a cup of coffee waiting for me by the time I got to the kitchen. He raised his eyebrows in question, and I managed a crooked smile, before turning around to face the rest of them. Gabriel, Sariel, Father David, and Ke all watched me closely, trying to judge what state of mind I was in this morning. Okay, so Ke wasn’t so much looking at me. Or at least he wouldn’t meet my eyes. It didn’t matter to me any more.
I leaned back into the counters that framed the kitchen and took a sip of coffee.
“Okay Gabriel, you got it. I’ll go to the Crystal City with you today.”
Gabriel nodded without speaking, as though he expected my answer. But I wasn’t done yet. I held up a warning finger to stop the protests I saw forming on Sariel’s lips.
“Uh-uh.” I waggled the finger at her. “Don’t even. Did you think I wouldn’t guess what it was you did to me in the dreamscape last night?”
She had the grace to blush. Good girl. There was no denying it, and she knew it.
“What happened, Yesh?”
“The Grigori decided to reawaken the energy inside of me last night. What that means, I’m not sure yet. But they took matters into their own hands, when I wasn’t jumping the way they wanted me to.”
Father David was frowning at Sariel and Gabriel was in full glare mode. The Archangel wasn’t happy about what the Grigori had done, that was obvious. It was okay by me––I was with him on this one.
“It is still your choice whether to use it or not.” Sariel sniffed. “And you could have chosen not to allow it. But you didn’t. You accepted it, because whether you realize it or not, it is as natural to you as breathing.”
“You are messing with the Natural Order, Grigori.” Gabriel was hot, his anger teeming in words issued through clenched teeth.
“I’m messing with the Natural Order?” Sariel laughed, but the sound was bitter and full of accusation. “Oh, that’s rich, Gabriel.”
“Both of you stop right now.” I ordered and pointed to Ke. He wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines and not involve himself. He had gotten me into this mess in the first place, as far as I was concerned. “You––explain.”
He looked up at me, meeting my eyes for the first time since I walked into the room this morning. I saw sadness there, resignation, but also a bite of anger. Directed at me? Or directed at them?
“Sariel told you the Grigori believed the natural flow couldn’t be stopped, or havoc would ensue.”
I shrugged. “I suspected as much. She never specifically mentioned which side the Grigori took in all of this, or who the others were that wanted to put a kink in the hose. But yeah, I had
figured that much out.”
Sariel was giving Ke a warning glance. I turned on her. “Look, lady, you want me to even consider the part you guys are putting forth in all of this? Then I need some answers––straight and clear. If you can’t do that much then get the hell out of here, because I’ve had it with being moved around like a pawn on a chessboard.” I turned back to look at all of them. “As far as you’re concerned, this pawn has made it to the other side and has retaken the queen. I’ve figured out I can move in any direction I want, as many spaces as I choose or don’t choose to take. This choice is supposed to be mine to make and you’d better start treating it that way, or your piece will be the next to be removed from play––got it?”
I didn’t get any assents, but I wasn’t hearing any arguments, either. It was a start. I looked back at Ke. “Straight from the hip––no crap.”
Ke nodded. To his credit, he didn’t even bother looking at Sariel before continuing. “The Grigori anticipated you would go with Gabriel to the Crystal City. That is why they reawakened the energy within you, so you would have defenses.”
I hadn’t expected that answer. “Defenses from what? The Thrones? The Archangels? Are you trying to tell me I would be in danger if I went with Gabriel?”
“You would suffer no harm at the hands of the angelic host.” Gabriel’s eyes with glittering with suppressed anger. He wasn’t telling all, though, and he didn’t look happy at Ke’s revelations.
“But it doesn’t have to be harm at the hands of the angelic host now, does it, Gabriel?” Sariel was a bit testy.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” I asked in a low voice.
Ke wasn’t meeting my eyes again. “It means that if you went with Gabriel to the Crystal City, they wouldn’t have to harm you. All they would have to do is to keep you there. That would effectively stop you from participating in any way they didn’t want you to.”
