by Sam Cheever
His pretty green eyes widened and his aura pulsed with alarm. I reached out and laid my hand gently across his forearm, not clutching, not yet, just a steadying touch.
“How long have you been aware of the veil?”
The green eyes went from alarm to fear in the beat of a heart. His aura flared into bright, terror-stricken red. He shifted his body weight as if he would pull away and I tightened my grip on his arm. I was fully prepared to use force to keep him there if I needed to. But something in my eyes must have reassured him and he stilled.
He gave a sigh and then, incredibly, he smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile. “I sensed it once when I was eight years old. It was much weaker then and slid away after a time. But I knew it was coming back. I’ve been feeling the edges of it now for several months. I’ve seen the people change...”
His gaze slipped away from me and I knew the horror of his thoughts, his memories. I’d been there with him, dealing with it in other places at the same time. I knew the nightmares that clawed and dug inside his mind when he tried to sleep.
“I need to ask you to help us fight this thing.”
He looked at me and I knew he’d been expecting it. Dreading it. But I also knew he’d do whatever we asked. If he’d seen the inner workings of the veil, he knew that it had to be stopped and he probably suspected that he was important to that effort.
Finally he nodded. “What can I do?”
I reached for my cross and called Flick.
Flick popped in behind me and the fireman standing in front of me blinked. He took a step back, his handsome face tinged with fear.
“It’s okay.” I smiled. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know your name.”
He blinked at Flick a few times and then turned to me. “I’m Brett.”
“Brett, this is Flick, he’s my guardian.”
Brett gulped and held out a hesitant hand. Flick took it with a bright smile. “Brett, nice to meetchya.”
Turning to Flick I said, “Brett is one of the special humans Myra’s group has been working with. Can you take him to h—”
I suddenly remembered she was in the clinic fighting for her life. “To wherever it is they’re working and make sure he’s comfortable?”
Flick nodded. Are you sure, Astra?
I gave him a slight nod. “Yes, if you could please. I need to take care of some business down here.”
Brett’s eyes widened, “Down here? Where are you taking me?”
I laughed, “Think of it as an adventure in the sky, Brett.”
He opened his mouth but Flick grabbed his arm and they popped out.
I felt a little guilty for sending poor Brett to the clouds but figured he’d be in good hands. And maybe he could help them figure out how to stop the veil.
I headed toward my office again just as my mental drawers were shuffled and a voice I’d never expected to hear in my head resonated there. Astra, thank Him! Where the hell have you been? I need your help right now, they’re going to kill each other!
Torre?
Hurry, Astra. Come to me.
The air shifted and Torre’s soul form was suddenly standing beside me. He reached out a hand and I grabbed it. Movement and time jolted to a stop as he shifted me out of my office.
We popped back into the real world just as a blood curdling scream pierced the air and I saw two, tall, golden forms with silky black hair in a deadly battle with huge swords coated in bright red blood.
One of them pulled his sword from the chest of the other as I started forward, screaming, “No!”
Dialle turned to me when I screamed and Emo used the instant of Dialle’s inattention and drove his sword into Dialle’s chest. Dialle gasped and turned deathly pale, crumpling to the ground with Emo’s sword still embedded. His breathing rattled in his chest and his beautiful golden hands clutched ineffectually at the huge sword jutting from his body.
Emo’s head turned slightly, his black eyes widening in surprise as he slid down the wall he’d been driven against, fresh blood staining the rock behind him as he crumpled to the ground. “Astra?” His lips were cracked and flecked with blood. Fresh blood ran from a gash on his temple and coated his hands.
I turned to Torre. “Call Darma and then find a way to get her here.”
All the pretty golden color drained from his handsome face, “She’s in the clouds. I can’t go up there.”
I stood a few feet from my two favorite men, realizing they would both die if I couldn’t help them quickly and knowing that I’d have to make a choice over which one to help first.
My heart ripped slowly down the middle at the thought.
“Just do it! I need her help here right now!”
He nodded and disappeared from the room with a tiny pop.
Dialle was smiling at me. “My princess, you’re still alive.” His voice was weak and I knew he didn’t have long if I didn’t help him.
But Emo was making a terrible sound as he breathed and blood poured from his slack mouth. His head had dropped to his chest and his breathing seemed to be slowing to an unnatural rate.
I just stood there between them, unable to make the decision that would save either one of them.
Suddenly Darma was there. “You help Dialle, I’ve got Emo.”
I wanted to kiss her. I knew Emo was safe in her more than capable hands. And I didn’t have to make a choice. I bent over Dialle and immediately sent my healing power into his body. I pulled the sword out of his body on a wave of power and threw it across the room in a fit of temper. Then I started mending the ripped flesh and torn organs.
How is he? I asked Darma.
He’ll be okay.
I closed my eyes in relief. Thank you, Darma. I can’t tell you how much it means...
Emotion swamped me as Dialle grabbed one of my hands, dragging it away from his chest. “Unless you want to heal me of wounds I haven’t received yet, my princess, I think you can stop now.”
I opened my eyes and saw a wide expanse of unblemished golden chest. It was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. I gave a little moan of relief and threw myself at him. My lips hit his with such force his head slammed back onto the cold stone floor beneath him.
He didn’t even seem to notice. He wrapped both arms around me and rolled us over so that he laid full length on top of me. His lips consumed mine possessively, hungrily, driving my breath out of my body on a wave of almost uncontrollable passion. I tucked my arms under his and filled my hands with his silky black hair, holding him in the kiss and meeting his near frantic passion with a raging hunger of my own.
The kiss filled my consciousness so completely that the room and its occupants slid away. There was only Dialle and me and a lust too big to be assuaged in one coupling, or even a hundred.
Finally my sister’s dulcet tones managed to shred the wall of lust we’d built around ourselves and deflate our hunger.
“Oh for His sake, Astra, get a room!”
Dialle and I reluctantly parted and I peered around him to see my sister’s disgusted face. But there was a suspicious sparkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before and Torre was standing behind her, with his arms wrapped possessively around her waist.
I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”
Darma snorted, turning away before I could see her smile. Torre winked at us and they popped out.
Which left me with a direct line of sight to Emo. Who didn’t look happy.
“Hey,” I said on a weak smile.
He scowled and stood. “I thought you were dead. I thought he’d taken you. I didn’t know what the hell had happened to you, Astra.”
I pushed myself to my feet and wiped suddenly sweaty palms on my thighs. “I was taken into the shadows by my mother. Darma was there and between the two of us we managed to escape. Then the Serpent showed up...” I narrowed my eyes as the anger on his face slowly morphed into a guilty flush. “Is that why you were fighting with Dialle? You blamed him for my disappearance?” I suddenly realized wha
t Emo had been thinking...and I couldn’t believe it. “You thought he would hurt me?”
“Ridiculous isn’t it?” Dialle was suddenly standing at my side. I spared him a glance and felt his hand slide to my waist.
Emo was having trouble meeting my eyes. “He’s fully capable of getting you killed, Astra. When you disappeared I...” his gaze shifted around the room before lighting on my face, “I went a little nuts.”
My heart sped up as I realized my partner had indeed gone a little nuts. The question was why? We’d been friends for a really long time, as long as I could remember in fact. But attacking and trying to kill Dialle seemed a bit over the top.
“I tried to explain to him that I was searching for you too but he wasn’t listening...to me...or to anyone.” Dialle’s gorgeous face was dark with anger. His black eyes pierced the distance between him and Emo with unfettered rage. “He’s unbalanced, Astra.”
I reached a hand back and touched his arm to silence him.
Emo’s black eyes met his with equal anger. “You do nothing to help with the veil. You care only for your court and the power it stands to gain by this. If you were truly the Great Unifier you would help us defeat this thing.”
Dialle stiffen against my back. “And curse my own kind with subservience for all time?”
I stiffened too. I didn’t want to hear that. I sooooo didn’t want to hear Dialle proclaim for the other side. I turned to look up at him but his gaze was locked angrily on my partner.
“You presume too much, halfling.” He spat the title as if it was a foul taste in his mouth.
Emo took an angry step forward, “I have Royal blood in me too, Pretender but I will choose the light side over the dark!”
I heard a hiss of air and turned to see a sword clutched in Dialle’s elegant fist. A matching hiss across the room told me Emo had armed himself too.
I sighed. Dance of the idiots round two.
I flung up my hands and both men were encased in power bubbles. They fought to extricate themselves for a few beats and then turned angry black gazes in my direction. “I’m not releasing you until you start thinking with your brains instead of your...testosterone.”
Dialle gave a mighty roar and lunged at the bubble, sword first. He nearly drove the hilt into his stomach on the backlash.
Emo laughed, spurring Dialle to new levels of rage. But there was nothing he could do to pierce my bubble and after a couple of minutes he stood panting and glaring at me.
“Okay, Astra. You win. I will behave.” The sword in his hand disappeared.
I looked at Emo. He sighed and let his sword disappear too.
The bubbles disintegrated with a soft pop.
“Now, can we discuss this like rational beings?”
“We would all need to be rational to have that occur.” Dialle said with a glare in Emo’s direction.”
Emo arched a dark eyebrow at him, “And we would all have to be on the same side.”
At least the swords didn’t make an appearance again. It seemed we were settling for spearing each other with words.
I could live with that.
I swung a hand dismissively and dropped my butt onto the nearest soft surface. It happened to be a divan. “Sit. Both of you. We need to talk about what’s going on and how we will fight the veil.”
Dialle suddenly found a reason to look away from me. Not a good sign. I decided to take the problem head on. “Dialle, tell me you’re on my side in this.”
His dark gaze swung to me. “I am always on your side, my princess.” His eyes told a different story.
I frowned, feeling my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. “You will help me fight the veil?”
He dropped onto the divan next to me and leaned forward, his elbows resting on splayed knees. He suddenly looked as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
In a way it was.
“You do not understand what you are asking me, Astra. You speak of the continued subjugation of my people.”
I fought to keep tears at bay. “I speak of the death of the human race and consumption of the Earth by evil forces.”
He sighed, resting his head in his hands.
I became aware of Emo sitting down across from me but didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see his face at that moment. If he was smug I’d never forgive him.
“So you are telling me you side with evil against good in this?”
Dialle looked up, shaking his head. “I must side with my own people, Astra. The Court looks to me to help them. I cannot turn my back on them when they finally have a chance at freedom.”
I stood up, my hands fisting at my sides, “Freedom,” I spat at him, “comes at the cost of millions of lives. The price paid by untold human souls. It means unleashing the Serpent in this world. It represents the death of good in all of us. Is that the freedom you embrace?”
He looked at me, pain shining brightly in his beautiful midnight eyes. It was possible he was torn between doing the right thing and doing what was expected of him by his people. But I knew, in the end, he would do what they asked. No matter how much pain it caused him. No matter what it did to us.
I turned to Emo, holding out my hand. “Let’s go.”
He stood up and took my offered hand. Turning to Dialle I said, “You’re dead to me. From here on out we stand on opposite sides in this war. You’ve made your choice and you will die by it. I will personally see to that.”
I nodded at Emo and time and space shifted into neutral.
Unfortunately for me, my anguish did not.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Devil in the Ranks
Our handsome Prince does pale to think, of living way up high,
But his fair miss has bade him go, to the Hopefuls in the sky.
Flick found me at my father’s house, where I’d gone to hide and heal. I was sitting at the long wooden table in the kitchen, sipping hot, black coffee dejectedly.
He sat down across from me. Neither of us said anything for a long moment. Finally he said, “Talk to me, Astra.”
I told him about Dialle.
He shook his head and reached for my hand, clasping it tightly. “Trust, Astra. He hasn’t made his choice yet. Trust that he will make the right one.”
I shook my head, fresh tears filling my eyes. “He’s made his choice. I saw it in his eyes.”
Flick gave my hand a final squeeze and let go of it. “Eyes lie, Astra. They reflect emotions but they’re not always reflective of intentions. Trust him. He’s been prophesied to be the Great Unifier. If he is truly the Unifier he will pass this test.”
I thought about that for a moment and then nodded, drying my eyes. Flick was right. I really had no other choice. Dialle was struggling with world altering decisions that only he could make. I’d influenced him as much as I could. I had to trust that he would do the right thing.
I looked up at Flick and gave him a smile. “Thanks.”
He inclined his head.
“So, what’s up?”
“The test results came back as inconclusive. They found nothing substantially different between Myra and me.”
“Shit!” I dropped my head in my hands, thinking. When I looked up Flick was watching me. “What about my father?”
He shook his head.
“So what now?”
He shrugged, “They are still working with the sensitives. Maybe they’ll discover something there we can use.”
The air changed and Torre and Darma were standing there, seemingly lost in each other’s eyes.
I shook my head, I didn’t think I’d ever get used to seeing Darma magic herself around.
Finally she turned and her eyes had a glazed, lust-filled look to them. I was pretty sure I’d never get used to that either. “Hey, Astra. Are you okay?”
Apparently my eyes were all red and puffy. Bleurgh! I forced a smile. “I’m fine. How about you?”
She looked at Torre, “Frunkin’ wonderful.”
I dr
opped my gaze as something cold and ugly reared its head and ripped through my gut. I think it was envy. A hideous monster. I bitch slapped the nasty thing back under wraps and forced myself to look at the two lovebirds. “Flick brought the test results.”
Darma dragged her gaze from Torre and looked at my guardian. “And?”
He shrugged, “Nothing.”
She frowned. “Damn. I really thought we had something there.”
I nodded. “Back to square one.”
Darma grinned, “Well at least we have help.” She lifted Torre’s arm and showed me the devil’s mark on his thick, golden wrist. “Torre’s gonna help us fight this thing when it comes time.”
My eyes flew to Flick and he grabbed my hand again. “That’s wonderful news, Darma.” He stood up and clasped Torre’s hand. “Welcome to the good side.”
Torre gave Flick a formal nod that told me he didn’t get out much when it came to dealing with angels. Darma looked like she would burst from happiness.
Why did I feel like I would explode with misery?
Oh yeah. I remembered why.
Suddenly intuition flooded me and I looked at Torre. “Your brother has a mark too doesn’t he?”
Torre hesitated but Darma nudged him with her elbow. “Tell her. She deserves to know.”
“Dialle hasn’t told anybody,” Torre said with obvious reluctance.
I frowned, “Why?’
Torre shrugged, “He feels the mark’s weight upon his soul. He is two creatures under one skin, Astra, as am I. We constantly fight the dark in our natures. The mark has enhanced his darkness to the point where he fears he cannot fight it.”
My lips twisted with disgust, “But you seem to be fighting your darker nature just fine.”
He pulled Darma underneath his arm and looked down at her. “I carry a golden angel in my heart at all times. It helps.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “Dialle has me.” They all just looked at me and even I had to grin. “Okay, okay. I realize that I’m carrying around at least two creatures under my skin too. But I do carry the light.”
