by Amy Barrett
They found seats and Ciara stared straight ahead of herself, occasionally fanning her face with her hand.
Ivan watched the water drops run down the outside of the window. They slipped so quickly into nothing that he struggled to follow one long enough to see its whole life. They reminded him of people. Pressing his cheek against the glass, he inhaled the cold which the other passengers curled from. This new sensation was addictive.
It wasn’t long until they reached Ciara’s street. It was busy, people rolled past in waves. Ivan coughed on the smell of sweat and perfume.
Ciara slipped through the crowds and across the street. She stopped at a stern grey building which had lit windows all the way to the fourth floor. It was the same colour as the darkening sky. The stones were slippery on the way to the door and Ivan skated to a stop behind Ciara. Pushing her way in, she climbed the stairs to the third floor. A dusty door let them in to her apartment. The place was quaint. The walls were an aqua blue on the way in. Upon reaching the living room, they morphed into a wallpaper with birds on it. Like a lazy pet, a massive furry rug lay in the middle of the floor. It took up most of the room and Ivan tiptoed around it to avoid getting it wet with his shoes. Blinds were rolled to the top of all the windows until they were just cream bars. Clutter sat in armies on the shelves and coffee table. Ivan had to raise an eyebrow at the angel statue stood next to the archway to the kitchen.
Ciara followed his gaze. “I am a spiritual person.”
“Yep,” he said.
Ciara lifted some stuff from the sofa and gestured to the space she had cleared. Ivan sat gingerly on the edge, as if a bomb was under the pillow and any movement would set it off. He had never sat on something so soft before and he was sure if he moved too much part of it would squish down and he would fall off the seat. Ciara vanished and returned with a plate of cookies. She presented them to Ivan on a pink rimmed plate. When it became apparent that she wasn’t going to stop holding them out to him until he took one, he did.
While he niddled the edge of the biscuit she watched him, smiling. Her eyes were glowing like fireflies. She brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.
The cookie tasted like energy and laughter. It was the only way he knew how to describe it. He relished another bite before the silence and her stare started to make him squirm.
“What?” Ivan glanced behind himself. She must have been looking at something else, because when he turned back, her gaze was broken.
“Anyway.” She held her hand out to him. Her short-rounded fingernails pointed at him. It took a second, but he grasped her hand. It was soft and warm.
She giggled.
“Now what?” Ivan asked. He scanned the room, as if he would find a hint.
“Just let me search with my mind.”
“How do you do that?”
She grinned showing her front teeth. “Not with a flashlight anyway.”
“Ha ha.” He poked her side and she yelped, jumping away from him. Ivan was taken aback. He hadn’t expected himself to do that.
“Shh. Unless you don’t want me to find Zerk.” Ciara gently closed her eyes.
“Zerachiel,” Ivan corrected her.
Ivan clamped his eyes shut so tightly that he felt the skin beside them bunch up. he was directing all his thoughts towards Zerachiel. He pictured him in his mind as clearly as he could and asked him repeatedly to come and help. He thought back to the first time they had met. How Ivan had reaped a girl in the gym and wondered why he wasn’t moving onto the next dead person. He remembered how good it felt to speak to someone as if he was real for the first time. Zerachiel had been so sad that day and he had needed someone to talk to. Ivan hoped that he could still find him as easily as he used to when he needed to escape the angels and be himself for a while.
After five minutes of this, Ivan was beginning to doubt if Ciara could help at all, when in the middle of the room, Zerachiel appeared. He was smack bang on where Ivan pictured the face of the rug to be.
“You did it!” Ivan said. He stood up so fast that he wobbled like a tree in gale force winds. He regained his balance and ran to Zerachiel.
“How did you manage to call out to me?” Zerachiel asked. He noticed Ciara and motioned to her. “And who is this Ivan?”
“Oh that’s…” Ivan struggled with the name for a second.
“Ciara.” She said.
“Yea, Ciara, she’s, well she’s my friend now I guess.” Ivan made a silent pledge never to forget his friend’s name again.
“Wonderful and have you considered the consequences to your actions or the fact that she can’t stay your friend when you return to work unless you are going to kill her? Or that humans aren’t really meant to be in contact with angels? I will get the blame for breaking another rule. What is wrong with you?” Zerachiel was blue in the face by the time he took a breath. Ivan put both his hands on Zerachiel’s shoulders. He had seen humans touching one another to offer comfort a multitude of times and he thought that Zerachiel might need it. Ivan felt Zerachiel take a deep breath and relax a little.
“Calm down mate. She is fine. Everyone seems to think she is mad anyway.”
Ciara shrugged.
“And I’m not gonna kill her mate. I’m not a murderer, I’m the cleaner for murderers.”
Zerachiel shut his eyes and shook his head.
“What do you want Ivan?” He stepped out of the reapers reach. “I know you too well. You want something. It can’t be company because you don’t need that from me anymore so what have you done?”
Ivan was a little pissed that his friend was so suspicious of him but in the end, it was warranted.
“You mean what have we done. Yea mate you are in on this one with me,” Ivan said.
Zerachiel’s blue eyes narrowed into tight slits as he thought. They became as wide as marbles when he figured it out. “Oh no”
“Yep. She came to see me today. Something about fixing it before things got worse.” Ivan sighed.
“Ivan this is serious. We don’t know what will happen because of us. I was so stupid. God forgive me I…”
Ivan waved in front of his face to stop the rant in its tracks. Zerachiel’s jaw twitched with the effort it took to reel in his panic and stop talking.
“We will be fine. So what, if a couple of souls have gone walk abouts.”
Zerachiel took a minute to calm down and nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We can fix that when you get back to work. Soon so they don’t hurt anyone.”
Ivan didn’t disagree with this solution because he didn’t want to panic Zerachiel, but he also knew that he was not going back to work any time soon. “Yea and whats the big deal if some people have taken a break from hell.”
Zerachiel stared at Ivan with his mouth hanging open. “Souls got out of hell?”
“That’s what she told me, but you know she isn’t that reliable, and I don’t trust that she isn’t making it up because she hates me.”
Zerachiel groaned past his hands as his face fell into them. “Great. Now we have to hunt down some twisted souls from hell and send them back like we are some kind of demon bounty hunters. I don’t even know how we are going to get them back to hell. I am an angel!”
Ivan laughed. “Hey at least I am getting a job like I said I would.”
Zerachiel glared and Ivan prepared himself for the lecture about when it is appropriate to joke when Ciara brought herself back into the loop.
“Hell? Souls? Demons?”
“I forgot my friend was still here,” Ivan said, smiling sheepishly at Zerachiel.
The angel moaned. “Isn’t it wonderful how popular you are.”
Ivan smiled. He did like having a creditable friend.
“I don’t think you guys are crazy. I mean you just appeared out of thin air in my living room.” Ciara pointed at Zerachiel. Her face was flushed, and she kept looking between the both of them. “Oh my god I know an angel. You might have to smite me for taking the lords name in vain.” She
giggled manicly. “It is all real!” She spun away from the bewildered boys and cheered silently to the sky. “It’s all real. I am not insane. All those people who told me I was mad, where wrong. I am not the problem. Ha!”
Ivan watched Ciara. “Zerachiel, mate?”
“Yes Ivan.” Zerachiel also watched the human as she pranced around in a dance like manner.
“Is it possible to break a human?” Ivan asked.
Both he and Zerachiel had had some kind of experience with humans before but never had they had a front row seat to the eccentricities of one.
Finally, Ciara stopped dancing and fully faced them again, grinning.
“You guys this is great.” She paced. “I have never been an exciting person but now I can go on an actual adventure, like in the books.”
“Whoa whoa slow down mate.” Ivan waved his hands. “You are not coming with us. This is a job for a reaper and his haloed friend”.
“A reaper!” Her eyes shone like polished stone.
“Great job,” Zerachiel grumbled. The boys exchanged looks. Ivan melted into laughter.
“What is so funny?” Zerachiel tried not to smile as Ivan laughed louder.
“We are now a team of the only angel I’m convinced has a soul, a reaper who is really bad at his job and a girl who barely knows if she is nuts or not.” He choked back another giggle. “We are going to be the worst monster catching team ever.”
***
Abyzou usually hated earth. The sun was too bright, and things were too clean, and everyone was loud, but few were screaming. This time she hated it even more. She knew this would be the place where she would see Nick again and reveal that Dan was dead. She didn’t care that he was gone, but she knew Nick would never feel the same as she did about it. She squinted against the sun, dared it to burn her to nothing. No such mercy came.
She shook her head. Why does she even care what he thinks? She is a demon and its her job to spread suffering. Comforted a little by this idea she turned her mind to the task at hand.
Finding Nick would be a challenge. He would know someone was hunting him so he wouldn’t be out in the open. She would find him somewhere closed in and strong enough to hold him on the full moon.
As she stalked the streets she imagined what she would do upon finding him. If she killed him, his soul would be free again and may vanish from her like Dan’s did. She could try to drag him back to hell herself. This seemed like the most likely option. But he was strong. He could kill her. Yet if she didn’t get him back to hell then she would have the rest of the demons to answer to. She didn’t think that the demons who ran hell would let her come back if she failed.
Something caught her eye. A cat was stalking a pigeon on the road. She watched the feline level itself to the tarmac. The black form was masked by the ground. Invisible to her prey, the cat crept another step. Her claws extended and withdrew in impatient anticipation. The closer she got the slower she moved. Her ears fell, and her eyes narrowed. She was silent as the space between her and the bird shrank. In one arc, the cat sprang, hitting her target with a hiss. Cats, Abyzou thought, were the only good thing to come out of this earth. They knew how to kill effectively and beautifully.
She hoped she would find it as easy to catch her prey.
Chapter 6
Nick examined the hideout and he wasn’t disappointed. The wolves had chosen a big building where they could live in semi comfort. The only problem was he had found nowhere yet which had the strength to hold the monster in his veins when he transformed. He didn’t mind this. The wolves were looking after themselves and that was good.
He would have to get some chains bolted to the walls for all of them. As for the gargoyle, bear traps would be added to his full moon prison when he found a room capable of holding him. The gargoyles skin was too strong for the traps to pierce but if they were already embedded into his bones before he turned then they would do their job. All of this ran through Nick’s mind as he held the sharp tooth restraints in his hands. The steel winked at him in the dull candlelight of the room. “Don’t you remember how helpful we are.” It seemed to sneer. “We keep you bloody and weak, just the way we like it”
Nick shook his head. He had to snap out of it. He must be going mad from his time in hell. Yet now that he had started to think about the traps he was dragged into his memories like he was sinking underwater.
A pain like fire in his leg had woken him from a deep sleep. He had been sixteen then and this was the fifth time his dad had brought up the bear traps and the first time his mum had let them be used.
He remembered the pain. Unlike anything he had imagined. He couldn’t describe it in words. He lay on the ground moaning in agony. He tugged at his leg but that made it worse. Blood bubbled out of the gash past the glistening steel. Bending slightly, he tried to see past his blurred vision to find a way to remove the trap. Upon moving his leg again, the painful trap gnawed into him. He dropped onto his back and waited for the throbbing and dizziness to pass.
He scanned around himself, hoping to find something that could help him. There were only trees for miles. Nick tried not to let the panic in his gut overwhelm him. His body was covered in a thick layer of sweat that he tasted on his lips. His heart was so loud that it was the only thing he could hear.
He tipped his head back and tried to distract himself by watching the clouds drifting past on occasion like they were headed somewhere but not in a hurry. Still the ache in his leg persisted. He was shaking despite not feeling cold. His skin was paling and the thought that he might die sent a new bolt of panic racing through him.
He was finding it harder and harder to stay concentrated on anything but his leg. He curled his body against the grass, and he tried in vain to focus on the feeling of it against his face. He attempted to use the scent of the earth to ground himself, but his nose was too blocked from crying.
“Nick!” a familiar voice hollered. It was nearby and panic laced. “Nick!” At that moment he was never more grateful than to hear her voice.
“Mum,” he said. He opened his eyes and tilted his head around to where the voice came from. She ran to him. When she got close enough to see the mess of his leg her eyes welled up with tears. Crashing with a whoosh beside him, she pulled his upper body against her. The movement hurt but he wouldn’t complain. Huddling closer to her cream blouse, he listened to her speedy heartbeat. He bit his lip to try and stop his tears.
“Shh,” she cooed into his hair, stroking it softly, “I know honey. I know it hurts.” Carefully, she removed him from her body and crawled towards the snare. A branch cracked and split under her weight.
She disarmed and pulled open the trap with surgical percision. Once there was nothing clogging the wound the blood ran freely. She removed her blouse and tied it round his mangled limb. She was left in a white vest and goose bumps popped up on her arms. Nick reached for her and she came back to hold him. He leaned against her and hid his face. He felt better crying if no one could see him doing it.
Pointing over his shoulder, she drew attention to the branch she had kneeled on.
“Could be worse,” she whispered close to his ear, “you could be that guy.”
Nick chuckled softly. His mum kept the joke about the branch going for a while. In his state, it was funnier than it should have been. Time passed a bit faster. Eventually, they were found. Nick was loaded into the car and the experiment with the bear traps was considered a success as his body started to heal. He knew that the next time his mother was against the use of them. In the end, she was overruled. However, she never turned far from him, and always found him in the morning.
Back in the room once again, Nick rubbed at his eyes. He couldn’t stop crying as he remembered her. How she had sat up with him when he was little and read books and what it felt like to hug her, as if nothing in the world could hurt him when she was holding him. It was the good memories that were the worst. Losing something was inevitable. Missing it was harder.
He
growled, a sound from deep in his throat, and flung the trap across the room. It hit the wall with a thud which echoed loudly. Nick was shaking and knew that the ugliest part of him wanted to take over. He pushed it down and took a few deep breaths. Still, the gargoyle clawed at his mind. The return to earth may have been a shock to him, but the monster had been waiting for this. It was stronger than ever, and it wanted to stretch its wings into the pale sky and paint the town red. He needed to stay in control, or it might get its wish. His heart was racing. He took a number of controlled breaths to relax again.
***
Ivan was ready to hunt monsters until Ciara gave him a message that morning. He was sitting on her couch. She had let him stay the night, but he didn’t sleep. He found that no matter how long he lay around with his eyes shut he couldn’t fall asleep. After an hour of trying he decided that it must be impossible. Death mustn’t sleep. Instead he spent the night looking through things in Ciara’s living room. He stroked blankets and the rug, he touched the glass of the windows until it made his arm chilly, he bounced around on her sofa and lay on all of the surfaces he could, paying attention to how it felt on each part of his body.
Thoughts of returning to work tormented him throughout the night. He could see all the years he had spent as a reaper in seconds of flashes of emotions. He didn’t focus on any of them. Granted if he and Zerachiel found and returned the souls then he would be made to go back to being invisible, but he would stay positive until the day when he felt he would never be seen again.
Instead of wallowing in his fear Ivan decided to open all the curtains and watch the light come in as the sun rose. It gave everything in the room a tinge of pink. He liked the sunrise. Mostly because even if it couldn’t see him, it was just the same for him as it was for everyone else.
Ciara interrupted these musings when she flew into the room in tracksuit bottoms and a baggy t-shirt. Her hair was tossed up in a ponytail and it escaped everywhere.
“Oh hey,” she said, “wasn’t sure you would be up yet.”
