by Tara Brown
He nods, “Michael made the air witches. He mated with the fae that he stole and made children. When they matured, he mated with them again. He is the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of them all.”
I make a face.
He laughs, “I know. Very creepy.”
I narrow my gaze, “Why did the dead show me your basement full of vampires?”
He sighs, “The dead lie, like I told you before. You never listen to me. You always think the worst of me.”
I scoff, “You are always the worst.”
His eyes look pained, “I deserved that.”
I laugh softly, “Stop changing the subject. Are there vampires in your basement?”
He nods, “It’s full. But I didn’t put them there.”
“Stella?”
He nods, “She and Michelle have been team bad guy for a while now. They faked research, manipulating this to end the way Lucifer wanted. He wanted the fae queen all along.”
“Why?”
“She is a strong ally, not to mention, she still has some who are loyal to her in the gates. This is a mess. You have to get away from the angels.”
I give him a puzzled look, “Where are you?”
He chuckles, “Boston, with the fire witches. I had to flee my castle. They came in the night to get you—beasts. Something startled you, and as I entered your room to warn you to fly away, you and Wyatt vanished into the painting. I cut it and disappeared. Maria and Tom had fled already. I had a sensation earlier. I was walking in a garden alone, it was cold, and there was a single tree, and I was talking to you through a mirror. I came to the fire witches to get answers. They said you had to be with the angels at the castle where the tree of knowledge was preserved.”
I look back at the tree, “That is the tree of knowledge?”
He sighs, “Don’t cheat, Rayne. If God wanted you to eat from the tree, he’d grow a piece of fruit for you. Just leave the damned thing alone. It’s better not to know.”
“How can I get away?”
He smiles at me, “Look into my eyes.”
I laugh, “No, creepy Uncle Dracula.”
“Do it and I’ll make it so you can’t let them into your head.”
I look at him, leaning foreword. He stares at me harshly, “You will not let anyone read your mind without your permission. You will be a steel trap and no thoughts will be shared without words, unless you say so. No one may enter your mind without permission.” He sighs, “Go wake Wyatt and let me do the same thing.”
I shake my head, “No. If they can’t read either of our minds, we may get into trouble. I told them to stay out of my mind, maybe they will think I am all powerful.”
He nods, “Okay, that works. Now I will send a message somehow, and you will flee the moment I tell you to. You will not share this with Wyatt, you will just bring him and make him trust you.” He scowls, “And don’t be rude to them. They are archangels for God’s sake and we all know how you get.”
I make a sound like I am offended, but we do all know how I get.
He points, “Don’t be stubborn. Lila says hello and hope you have had a chance to consummate your marriage.” He turns his face to look at someone, “What? I don’t want to know that.” I assume he is speaking directly to Lila. I smile, “Tell her I said hello and indeed, I am a fully-married woman.
Constantine sneers, “Goodbye and goodnight.”
And he is gone.
I stand there, freezing and excited. My instincts about him were correct.
I turn and face the tree. Something about it calls to me. I walk three steps towards it. I can feel my hand wanting to reach out and touch it, but I don’t. Suddenly, there are several pear-like pieces of fruit on it, but I still don’t think I should eat it. Knowledge of the future is bad. Willow always says ‘the unknown future is like fluid, it can change at any time and your destiny can become something greater.’ But if you knew what your future was, you would manifest that exact thing and freeze it there. You would be stuck with the limits of it. I look up at the sky, “That’s tempting. Why on earth would you have ever made one?”
I look at it once more and then turn to walk away. Michael is standing on the other side of the glass door staring at me.
He gives me a weird look and opens the door, “You have found the tree of knowledge. Did you eat from it?”
I shake my head, “I don’t trust fruit that knows more than I do.”
He laughs, “But the fruit is there for you. You could see your victory.”
I nod, “I could also see my defeat, and then that is all I would ever see.”
He narrows his gaze, “You were raised by witches, weren’t you?”
I nod again.
He sighs, “Such a fate to be the sin eater.”
I shake my head, “I don’t know any other fate. This is it.”
“Do you not wish you had known from the beginning?” he steps back so I can come into the warmth of the castle.
I shake my head, “No. I think it would have been harder waiting for that to start and take over. It would have sucked to have known I had a certain amount of free time. Plus, I’m terrible with secrets. I would have told someone the world was ending.” I look back at the glass door and it is gone.
“How did you know it was there?”
I shake my head, “I just had a feeling, like I should go there.”
“Did you see anything else?”
“No. Just the fruit instantly appearing for me. Well, and God of course.”
He gives me a look. I smile, “I’m kidding.”
He smiles back, “You are a strange girl.”
“I guess so. Of course I am walking back to my room in the ivory castle with an archangel. So maybe I’m just strange enough.”
He laughs, “Touché, that is true.”
I get to my room, but he leans against the doorframe and runs his hand down my cheek, “You are so pretty.”
I feel instantly sickened. The whole uncle, grandpa, daddy thing is still whirling around in there.
He opens the door for me, “Your lover is a lucky man.”
I hold my hand up, “Married.”
He scowls, “Not in the eyes of God.” He turns and leaves me there, feeling very vulnerable.
I sip into the room and close the door. I lean my back against it and take a deep breath. He never asked me why he couldn’t read my mind. Had it worked or not?
I climb back into the bed, curling into Wyatt. He wraps around me and I lie there, unsure on how to fall asleep.
When he wakes the next morning, I am exhausted. He yawns and stretches and looks at me, “Have you slept?”
I shake my head.
He groans, “Rayne, you have to sleep. We’re safe.”
I close my eyes, “I don’t know how. My whole life, the dead took me to sleep.”
He sighs and pulls me in, “Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived at the edge of the forest in a little cabin. She had six brothers, all older than her…”
I could see the picture of the little cabin, and before I knew it, I was waking up. The room was filled with light and the last thing I recalled was Wyatt telling me a story.
He smiles at me from the chair in the corner. “You slept.”
I smile, “Did you tell me the whole story?”
He nods, “I did.”
“I missed it. I remember her having brothers and that is all. The cabin by the edge of the forest. How long did I sleep?”
He laughs, “Seven hours. Rayne, you were exhausted.” He gets up and climbs into the bed with me, kissing my neck. He pulls his shirt off and climbs into the bed with me.
I close my eyes and let him start something we probably shouldn’t finish in a castle full of very religious angels who don’t see us as married.
But when he pulls my nightgown off, I know we are going to finish.
We walk down the hall an hour later, grinning at each other like idiots. We get into the dining hall, and I am sta
rved for every kind of food.
A lady comes and brings us a tray of food each. We sit at a corner of one of the massive tables. I look around at the lavish life these people live. “It’s weird the whole world is destroyed, and they are up here living the life.”
Wyatt scowls at me and mutters, “Inside voice.”
I smile and eat a grape, closing my eyes and moaning. “Oh my God, this is good.”
He smiles at me, “I want to take this back to our room.”
“So you can finish telling me that story and I can sleep some more?”
He shakes his head and eats a grape, getting juice from the sweet grape all over his lips. I lean forward, sucking his bottom lip. He kisses me back, grabbing the back of my head and running his hands up into my hair. The kiss is interrupted by a man’s voice.
“Good afternoon.”
We stop and turn to see Michael strolling towards us. He holds his hands out, “You both look lovely. Outfits suiting you more than the pink pajamas maybe?”
Wyatt blushes and looks down at his white dress shirt and khaki dress pants, “These are awesome, thank you.”
I feel less grateful for my dress. I tried to steal some of his pants, but he made me wear the dress, customs being what they are and all.
Michael motions his hands forward, “We have something for you.”
I scowl as a man is brought to me. He has on the same clothes as Wyatt and looks like he belongs in the Nazi herd. But something is different about him. His eyes are not bright blue, they are black. He has done something bad. I can smell it on him.
“He has committed a terrible crime against another of our kind. We figured you could go for a bite to eat, so to speak. God did send you here to be the executioner.”
I open my mouth to thank him but decline the offer, when Wyatt nods, “She would love to.” He looks at me. I scowl but he doesn’t budge on it. I stand, smoothing the pale-blue dress that looks like I stole it from a heritage museum, turning to face the handsome man.
He trembles when I step closer. I look around the room at the people about to watch.
“Just do it.” Wyatt says.
I look at the man, “I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head but doesn’t speak. I put my hands on either side of his face and pull him down to my height. I press my lips against his. The kiss is delicious. He tastes like something I have never had before. I moan as I pull it from him, my hands gripping into his hair. He kisses back, his hands sliding across my back. He lifts me into the air, and I suck, like I have never before.
It is cut short and I am ripped away from him. The man’s eyes are blue again. He smiles at me, “Thanks.”
I am breathless and looking back at Wyatt who looks like he might kill everyone in the room. I look at Michel, “What was that?”
The man winks at Wyatt and me and walks away. Michael puts a hand up, “That was a fallen angel. You can save them. Suck them clean of the sins they have committed.”
I step back into Wyatt, “They can also ask God for forgiveness.”
Wyatt steps in front of me, holding me back with his hands like I’ve done something wrong. “You can find another way.”
Michael meets his gaze, “You have no right to speak for her.”
“I am her husband. I have every right.” I would argue that point but I agree. He can talk, Michael scares me.
Michael gives him a look, “Not in God’s eyes. A witch ceremony hardly counts. You of all people, should know that.”
Wyatt grips me harder, “I know she is my soul mate. I know I will kill everything I touch if she is harmed. I know I can kill everything in this room. That’s what I was sent here for, isn’t it?”
Michael steps back, putting a hand up, “Easy, Nephew. We are among friends and family. If you say no, then no it is.” He smiles, but I can see his ruffled feathers, so to speak. He gives Wyatt a look, “No need to think such harsh things.”
The other angels and witches look shocked. He must have been plotting their death. Wyatt doesn’t let go of me. His grip doesn’t lessen at all. He grabs harder even and pulls me from the room. I almost trip, trying to keep up to him. I pull back when we are alone in the hallway. I am strong again. Whatever was in the angel was the good stuff. I couldn’t even get a sense of what it was.
Wyatt looks at me, breathing heavily like he is desperately trying to get control of his anger. “I am sorry. I am sorry I was a psycho. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.” The words are forced and painful for him.
I laugh nervously, “Let’s just say that if anyone, ever kissed you like that, I would gut them like a fish.”
He nods, “Okay. We’re good?”
I nod, “Just don’t grab me like that. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know.”
He sighs, “Me either. I thought you could eat him alive.”
“You and me both.”
He looks back at the hallway and opens his mouth. I plant a kiss on his cheek, “Don’t say it. Just trust me.”
I grab his hand and walk back to our room. I close the door and go brush my teeth. The paste is actually paste, made from mints. I look up into the mirror, jumping back when I see Willow.
I scowl, ”What’s with you guys and the mirrors?”
She whispers, “Who else came by mirror?”
“Constantine.”
She nods, “The mirrors in the white towers are magical. Always have been. The glass is made by the witches. They use it to spy. So Constantine’s in Boston with the fire witches? The earth witches are furious.”
I nod, “I don’t care. The fire witches have helped me loads.”
She looks at me in the dress and starts to laugh. I tilt my head, “Not even a little funny.”
She laughs harder, “It so is.”
“Whatever.”
She stops laughing and gives me a look, “You need to get away. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but go to the fire witches. They use ancestral magic, it’s intense and a little bit evil.”
I look in the mirror, “Is this thing being used to spy on me?”
She shakes her head, “No. I spelled it. I’m a ghost; it’s not the same thing as a regular witch trying to see you.”
I wince, “Constantine made me go to the glass door with the tree of life. They must have heard him talking to me.”
She shakes her head, “That’s a special spot. Can’t be used that way. Only dark magic can use it as a portal. Air witches are snooty, they don’t do dark magic. You have to run, Rayne. You aren’t safe there.”
I nod, “I know. I just figured that out when Michael made me cleanse a fallen angel.”
She looks stunned, “FUCK! HE CAN DO THAT?”
My jaw is on the floor. She snaps her fingers, “Rayne, he can do that?”
I nod, “You swore.”
She rolls her eyes, “I’m not a saint.”
I shrug, “Pretty close.”
“Focus, Nene. He can cleanse the fallen angels with you? Angels who have no conscience and are able to do the darkest of things?”
I nod. She presses her lips together, “Get to the fae. Forget the fire witches, he is going for the gate. I guarantee it. Get to the fae and warn them.
I look at her, “About what? What can they do?”
“Seal the gate forever.”
I step back. She sees my look, “Hurry. Get out of there and go for the gate. I’ll get the earth witches to warn the nixie. Leave now.”
I shake my head, “How?”
She sighs, “Fly as fast as you can for the ocean. The nixie will catch you and bring you to the gate.”
“Can the nixie just warn him?”
She shakes her head, “He will need to see. To read what you and Wyatt have seen. It will take that for him to make this decision.”
I turn and run into the room. Wyatt gives me a look, “What?” I hold my hand out for him, “Do not think a single thing. Sing a song in your head and trust me.”
He nods.
<
br /> I take his hand and we leave the room. We slip to the room with the tree. It is the only place I can think of with access to the roof. When we get inside of the small room, he looks at me, “Are you kidding?”
I snarl, “Shut up and hum.” I jump into the air, dragging him until he too starts to fly. We fly up to the highest point on the roof. I look at the ocean and take a deep breath. I grab his hand and point. He hums and nods. We dive off the roof at the exact same moment. I can hear the guards behind us when we are halfway. I hold my body tighter, like a bullet. We are flying for the ocean. At the last second, we both pull out our wings and float to the surface of the ocean. I wince as my wings almost rip off from the force. As we enter the water, we are snatched and dragged down. The nixie swim like I have never seen them do before. It is a rough, horrid, short trip across the ocean. They literally fling us from the water to the shore. The gate appears as I land, with no desire but to save my friends.
“Think of saving our friends inside of the gate.”
Wyatt and I step inside, wings still out.
I fly for the castle, sailing over the village. When I get to the window ledge where I had leapt from, I see the fae giving me a dirty look. I pull my wings in, almost gagging from the last couple of hours of my life and step inside. Mona runs to me but Gill frowns, “What is happening?”
I am out of breath and still gagging when I reach him, “You may read my mind, I give you permission.”
He places his hands on me and gasps, “Abomination and betrayal.” He gives me a look, “Is that true about Michael?”
I shudder, “I think so.”
Wyatt is still heaving his breath, “What the hell is going on?”
Gill gives me a look. He holds my hand tightly, “You must leave the gates now.” He looks at Mona, “Say goodbye, fast.”
Mona looks at me. Tears stream my face, “I love you.” I want to ask her to come with me. I want to ask her to be my friend more than she loves him. But I cannot.
I step to her, hugging her tightly to me. “Be safe, Mona. Please don’t ever forget me. I think very soon the only place I will live is in your memories, so please don’t forget me.”
She sobs, “What’s going on?”
