Dark Angel (Entangled Edge)

by TJ Bennett

  Gerard’s body transformed again, and soon he took on his natural shape. He became fully man, touched by the daylight for the first time in a hundred years.

  His eyelids slid open, but the eyes looking back at me were not his.

  They gleamed, dark as polished obsidian, no pupils or whites visible at all. It was a startling effect, like staring into a starless night sky. Not empty, but full of profound, endless, infinite, and unknowable space.

  He smiled and rose to his feet, Matthew’s topcoat dropping from his shoulders, until he stood before me, proud and tall and beautiful. His chest still bore the mark of the rapier, but the wound had closed, and every other part of him was familiar to me, from the hard width of his shoulders to the tight ropes of his abdomen, to the strength of his bulging thighs, to his sturdy feet planted in the soil. He moved his hand, and his body was clad in his usual ensemble of black wool and linen and boots. I’d wondered before how he’d managed that, and now I understood—it was, like so many other things on this island, by magic.

  If it hadn’t been for the color of his eyes, I would have thought it was Gerard from the way he held himself, the intensity of his gaze. But it wasn’t Gerard, and I would do well to remember it.

  “Is he still the beast? Or will he be able to live in the daytime as a man from now on?”

  “Only for today.”

  He stepped forward, his hand cupping my cheek. I felt a bone-chilling shiver rush over me, a cold I recognized from so many moments of my life. I imagined the chill enveloping me, freezing me from the inside out, and I was very, very afraid.

  I gasped and stepped back.

  Death dropped his hand. “I am sorry. There is nothing I can do about the cold.” He sounded displeased, for my sake or his, I did not know. “Have you changed your mind?”

  Gerard would live. I must focus on that alone.

  “No, I have not changed my mind. We have a bargain.”

  I stepped forward and lifted my face to his.

  He did not touch me this time but simply leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine.

  Immediately, a rushing wind blasted me, and the bitter cold—deeper, more intense than any I have ever experienced—surrounded me, making me shiver, my teeth nearly chattering. The lips pressed to mine became firmer, more insistent, and I opened my mouth beneath his, struck by the duality of sensations I was experiencing. These were Gerard’s lips, but not his, and the strangeness of it was almost more than I could bear. I was determined Death would not find me wanting in our bargain, however, so I reached for him of my own free will and pressed my body against his, kissing him harder, more fully on the mouth.

  He made a sound like any man would—an inhalation of surprise, a grunt of satisfaction—and he deepened the kiss.

  Images of foreign lands, savage faces, ancient times swept through my mind. There was Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Elizabeth I. There were farmers and soldiers and tinkers and fishwives. There was my father, my husband, my child. He had taken them all, from the great to the small. Their status never mattered to him. In the end, they came to him stripped of their achievements, of all their worldly possessions, with only their conscience and character to recommend them.

  He treated them as friends or enemies according to the mercy or justice they’d been given from above, and they fought him and feared him, except for the ones who understood him, the ones who had lived long, fruitful lives or endured unbearable pain and who welcomed his embrace. And there was regret there, too, for the ones who sought him out before their time, who thrust their attentions on him, who called him before he had a chance to prepare the way. And there was sadness for the little ones, the ones who never had the opportunity to truly live.

  I tasted all this in his kiss, felt it in his mind while I sped with him across all the nations of the Earth, saw people of every shape and color and kind and creed and they all came to us, came to me…

  I gasped as he pushed me away, the connection broken.

  My mind reeled, unable to process the infinite images I had seen. I was trembling with cold; my lips were like ice and my fingernails had started to turn blue.

  He was breathing hard. “I could not have imagined… Thank you. It is no wonder you take the memory with you. It is precious. I will treasure it always.”

  And to Death, always was a very long time.

  I gazed up at him in amazement. “I did not die.”

  Death smiled. “No. But you were willing to, for him. That says a great deal about you.”

  “But there will come a time?”

  “You ask me to predict the future. All things are possible, until they are not.”

  I let out a breath. Perhaps, all in all, it was best for me not to know. “Will you give him back to me now?”

  He reached out to touch my cheek, hesitated, and dropped his hand to his side. “You have the heart of a lioness.”

  I smiled. “So he says.”

  He closed his eyes in a slow blink, and when he opened them again, Death was gone. In his place, Gerard’s gray gaze stared back at me.

  I let out a sob of joy. He stumbled toward me, and I caught him in my arms, holding him tightly.

  He whispered my name over and over. “Do not take such foolish chances again. I am not worth it. Nothing is worth it.”

  “Shh, hold me, only hold me and we can argue later, after we are married,” I told him. I needed to feel his heat, take his warmth inside me—and banish the chill, sad pleasure of Death’s kiss from my mind.

  With a sound of joy, Gerard wrapped his arms around me and held on. “You will marry me?”

  I smiled though the blur of tears. “Today. Right now. Forever.”

  The kiss he pressed on me hummed with happiness, hope, and eternity. I laughed from sheer pleasure when we broke apart, but he did not release me. Instead, he looked over my shoulder, staring into the mist that watched us again with its penetrating, silent gaze.

  “What happens now?” he asked Death.

  “I want to show Catherine something,” the voices said. Death looked at me. “Do you see it?”

  I did not at first, until a memory—several actually—bobbed to the surface. Death’s memory was eternal, and these were insignificant compared to the billions of others, but they were important to me, and he had known and found them for me.

  I gasped, finally understanding, and burst into tears.

  “Catherine, what is it? What is he doing to you?” Gerard gripped my arms, turning to Death with fury in his stance. “Stop it!”

  “No…no, it’s all right, Gerard. He gave me a gift.” I smiled at the shifting shape in the mist. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “What sort of gift?” Gerard demanded.

  I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “He’s shown me the children. Their memories, their lives.” My throat closed up and I had to clear it before I could speak again.

  Gerard looked back and forth between us, his frustration at not understanding evident.

  “When Catherine’s ship sank,” Death spoke aloud so that Gerard could hear as well, “her friends believed her dead. It was put out that she was on a mission of mercy to save the Home. Catherine became a martyr, a rallying point for forgotten children. In her name, Miss Nightingale took up the cause.”

  The fog shifted, reformed, and smiled.

  “She did it, Gerard,” I told him. “She led the way, in my name, and now there are Catherine Briton Benevolent Homes in dozens of cities all over England. The children are all right, better than all right. It’s like Matthew said—God has a way of taking on our cares if we let Him, doesn’t He?”

  Gerard looked at me, stunned, and I nodded, elation suffusing my heart.

  The mist drifted. I could almost see through it now. Death was about to leave us. When or if I would see him again, I did not know. I only knew, for the first time in my life, I was grateful to him.

  Gerard released me and stepped forward. “A question.”

 
I could tell Death was impatient to be on his way, but he forestalled himself. “Yes?”

  “Am I—am I ever to be forgiven?” Gerard asked quietly, but I heard the catch in his voice.

  I felt the heavy sigh Death would have given if it’d had a form. “I, like you, am the servant of a greater master. Forgiveness is not mine to give. But you have shown great compassion for others, and that often reflects well. Perhaps someday, you will find what it is you seek. Farewell.”

  And with that, Death was gone, the mist dissipating in the wind.

  “Until we meet again, Catherine,” I heard him whisper in my mind.

  Afterword

  History records that on October 25, 1859, a huge storm dubbed the “Royal Charter storm” swept through the English Channel and moved north to the east coast of Wales. It smashed the great Royal Charter vessel against the coast of Anglesey, killing four hundred fifty people. The storm sank at least one hundred thirty-three other ships in the two days it raged and badly damaged another ninety.

  Approximately eight hundred lives were lost at sea and on land in one of the greatest collections of maritime disasters England had seen in generations. I imagined that my heroine, Catherine, was aboard one of those vessels the day the storm hit and she found herself a castaway on the Dark Island.

  Who knows how many more people went missing during the storm, and what their untold stories might be?

  Obviously, there is no such place as Ynys Nos. However, the Welsh island of Anglesey and the Isle of Man lent a bit of their character and history to my mysterious island in the middle of the Irish Sea, for which I am grateful.

  The gentlewoman Florence Nightingale did indeed serve Her Majesty’s Royal Army in the Crimean Theater from 1854 to 1857, with a contingent of thirty-eight nurses she trained herself. During her time in the Crimea, she became known as the “Lady with the Lamp” for her compassionate service to the soldiers under her care. After the war, despite contracting “Crimean Fever,” she set about changing the face of nursing from the confines of her sickroom. She received an outpouring of donations to fund the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’s Hospital in 1860, inspiring generations of women to answer the call of the previously disrespected nursing profession both in England and abroad.

  I think she and Catherine Briton would have made a great team, don’t you?

  About the Author

  RWA Golden Heart nominee TJ Bennett writes outside-the-box historical romance with richly detailed settings and unusual subjects. Her varied background includes extensive travel as a military dependent in Europe; owning a consulting business; teaching college-level English; and working as a civilian contract negotiator for the US Air Force. TJ knows about the black moments in life, too, and uses it to enhance her writing. She believes nothing is ever lost, and no painful experience is in vain.

  Get tangled in these contemporary romances,

  exclusively from Entangled Edge…

  The Descartes Legacy by Nina Croft

  Lucas Grafton has spent the last ten years hunting the Conclave, a secret organization who took his wife, his child, and his very identity. Now he has a lead—an imminent terrorist attack on London—code-named Descartes.

  Born with a genetic illness, Jenna Young must solve a twenty-five year old mystery if she wants to stay alive. When Luke’s need for revenge collides with Jenna’s hunt for the past, they must work together and stand against the Conclave.

  Far Too Tempting by Lauren Blakely

  Jane Black has written the break-up album of the century, earning her a Grammy, a huge legion of new fans, and the pressure to repeat her success.

  Then way too tempting journalist Matthew Harrington asks for an interview. He’s the first guy Jane’s been attracted to since her husband. As she spends more time with him and their relationship heats up, so does her writer’s block. How can the queen of the break-up pen the perfect follow-up when she’s seriously in love?

  Hunters Moon by Lisa Kessler

  Sasha’s future was stolen from her the moment she was bitten. Now she’s on the run from the Nero Organization that transformed her from a human detective into a shape shifting jaguar assassin.

  When a rogue bounty hunter threatens her younger sister, Sasha must trust the werewolf Aren she once tried to kill. Now Aren is struggling between his animal nature to love and protect his one mate for life, and his loyalty to the Pack.

  Bittersweet Magic by Nina Croft

  Roz has been indebted to the demon Asmodai for five hundred years. To gain her freedom she must complete one last task for him—obtain a key that had been hidden in a church centuries ago.

  Piers, the Head of the Order and an ancient vampire, is intrigued by Roz and plans to use his power to get inside her head. But Piers has no idea Roz is immune to his mind-control...or that he is simply a pawn in her mission for freedom.

  Undying Embrace by Jessica Lee

  Arran MacLain is a vampire on a suicide mission, driven to kill his former partner who betrayed him and the Enclave they served. Gabrielle Steven is hunting for clues about her missing sister. Their missions combine and thrust them into the heart of evil. Will their passion be enough to overcome the pain from their past, or will their dark desires destroy them both?

  Now available from Entangled Edge