by Lucian Bane
The dead leaves on the ground shot up in a whirlwind with a deep growl that shook the air. Ruin clamped his hand on hers and jerked her to his body just as the trees before them parted and a wave of giant wingless beings blasted toward them.
“Stegó.” The single word from Ruin covered them in a white ice dome. Isadore’s frantic breaths filled the eerie silence as she looked up at him. His eyes and hair were the color of pure snow, his skin like a dead person, his tattoos shiny like frosted glass. He lowered his head, and his eyes drifted shut with the part of his frosted lips. A cloud of white breath, almost like a sigh of relief, billowed out with his whisper, “Deó.” The dome exploded and Isadore screamed when the power yanked her. But Ruin’s arm held her tight, and then just like that, they walked again, Ruin keeping hold of her hand.
Isadore staggered, numb with dread and shock as she looked back at the hundreds of black things nailed to the trees by spikes of ice, squirming and screaming, sizzling tar oozing out where the spikes held them.
They walked straight into the clearing and stopped outside the circle of people.
“You are late.”
Isadore jerked to the deep growling voice behind them.
“Grim,” Ruin said casually without looking. “Caliber said you’re behind—”
“I know.” The words cracked like thunder stealing Isadore’s ability to breathe as he moved to tower next to Ruin. She swallowed hard at the black flames licking slowly over his matching robe. “That’s because you did such a sloppy job on the last assignment.”
Grim? She looked for a long scythe but didn’t see one. Why did they seem to know each other so well?
“My apologies,” Ruin said. “I’m rusty.”
“You’re the Seventh Carnificem of Daguire’s Guild.”
“I’m not always aware of that, Grim.”
“Well learn it. I can’t carry half judged souls in case you forgot.”
“I had, yes.”
“Why do you always carry this human with you?”
“I have to.”
Isadore hid further behind Ruin when the…thing’s face turned to her, aiming black empty sockets of billowing smoke at her. Dear God. “The angel of death,” she whimpered.
He turned his face slowly back to the scene before them, a low rumble shaking the air. “I am not the death angel human.”
Ruin gently pushed Isadore to the side, the air around him swirling with white ice as he walked right into the circle of humans then stopped. “I am Ruin.” His voice roared out like crashing water as he looked around at them. The one called Grim growled and the humans erupted in frightened screams at seeming to become aware of what was happening right before them. At this point, Isadore got her first glimpse of what was going on and she gasped in horror. A naked woman laid mutilated on the ground and a silent newborn baby dangled over a fire, held by the hand of a man in a black robe. Ruin walked towards him. “I am the Seventh Carnificem. The power of Judgment is given to me.” Ruin stopped before the petrified man. “Execution has come to you this day.”
Ruin took the infant from his hand and laid it carefully on the ground then stood. He placed his right hand on the man’s head. “Your sins have exceeded their measure and your abominations have broadened your grave and damnation. You shall be dead but will not die. Your body will rot away from your bones and agony will be your breath for forty years. You will not hear. You will not see. And the land of the damned is where you will remain until final judgment.”
Ruin released him and turned to the group of people huddled together. “All of you will die this night.” Fire engulfed him as he walked away and the smoke of those horses rose up above him and the human’s demons ran forth and mounted the fiery beasts.
Just as before, they looked at Ruin. “Command us, master.”
Without turning, he whispered, “Execute.”
Mind tearing screams came as the horses reared up and the demons rode forth on the humans, slaying them with swords of ice. Their bodies dropped to the ground and all that was left was the single man, screaming and thrashing on the ground.
“It’s done,” Ruin said, walking away.
But Isadore’s eyes were on the tiny baby. She ran forward, sure she’d seen it move. Sure of it. Kneeling down, she touched its tiny chest and lifted its little arm. Oh God. A sob gushed from her at feeling the tiny limb cold and broken. She looked over it. It was a baby boy. “No,” she choked, shaking her head. She scooped the baby up in her arms and pressed his still body to her chest and turned to Ruin.
He stared at her with an odd expression, the sacrificial fire behind her, licking in his bright green eyes.
“We have to bury it,” she whispered.
“He’s gone,” he said.
“I don’t care,” she cried. “We have to bury him! He needs a proper burial, I won’t leave him,” she looked down at the still infant.
Ruin looked at Grim. “Show her.”
The man growled long before he opened his robe to reveal a tiny baby, sleeping peacefully in the embrace of the mother.
“He’s safe now,” Ruin said.
Isadore hurried with a gasp. “They’re okay. They’re… going to heaven?”
Grim merely growled again and Ruin gave a single nod.
“Yes,” Isadore sobbed, nodding. “Yes, of course he is.” She looked at Ruin, rocking the dead baby against her chest. “I have to bring him back. And bury him.” She made her voice hard, letting him know she meant it.
“I pity you,” Grim said to Ruin. “I am done here.” The man blew black smoke at Isadore and everything went dark.
****
Ruin jolted awake to Isadore banging around in the kitchen. He was sitting at the table, like he’d dosed off. He looked out the screened wall and realized it was nearing twilight. He watched Isadore slam things and bang things, wondering what had happened. She was upset. About what? She walked to the door and slipped her black rubber boots on. “I’m going run my traps and bait them. Don’t wait up.” Her tone was cold. Depressed maybe.
Ruin stood, disoriented and grabbed hold of the table, dizziness slamming him. “You can’t be without me.”
She walked out without a word and Ruin followed her. He tried to remember things. They picked up The Messenger. He got the assignment… he remembered the judgment. That large man in black. Who was he?
He scrubbed the tingle in his face with his hands and hurried out to find Isadore loading her little boat with a five gallon bucket. “I’m coming with you.”
“Suit yourself,” she muttered. “You come, you help.”
He climbed in the boat and sat, handing over the oars when Isadore requested them with a don’t fuck with me glare. Ruin wondered what she remembered. Did she remember? He needed to talk to the Messenger. He needed to ask the Messenger things.
Like why was he judging? Why him? Why didn’t he know more about all of it? What all was he missing? Why did he need Isadore? Why did the ice and fire seem to like her in some ways and at other times hate her? Why didn’t he understand the Bible? Why did it seem like the answer to all of his questions was linked to the answer of that one?
“What do you remember about today?” he finally asked as she rowed them silently through the darkening swamp.
“What does it matter,” she mumbled.
“It matters a lot.”
She aimed her blue eyes at him. “Matters to who?”
“Me, Isadore. Tell me.”
“Am I not supposed to remember something?”
“I don’t know, tell me. Please.”
She stared at him for a long while then stopped rowing. “Well, let’s see, we started out the morning late for church, then we visited Old Man Ghospired, you did wondrously and made his goddamn table vanish, killed his dogs, and then home. Didn’t even get a chance to bring my gumbo to Mr. Thibodeaux because it spilled all over.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it? Isn’t that enough? And let’s not forget you
insulted his deaf son,” she added, going back to rowing.
At the mention of him, Ruin’s anger stirred. “Oh, your good friend?”
“Yes, my good friend.” She aimed her glare at him. “Who probably isn’t any more after I brought psycho man over there.”
“Don’t worry, you haven’t lost him. He’s still all yours.”
She smirked at him, “He’s just a friend and he’s deaf, JD.”
“Ruin. And what does not hearing have to do with it, Miss don’t treat him inferior. And if that’s how you let your friends touch you, maybe I should become a friend.”
“Well it wouldn’t help, because I surely don’t fuck my friends, JD.”
“Are you sure? You two looked like you had some time alone.” Ruin’s pulse hammered in his head and the power gurgled like a bad volcano. “Maybe he’ll marry you, he seemed to be very in love.”
She laughed at that. “Sam is very sweet. And yes, I did let him kiss me once.”
The things that didn’t do to him. Ruin’s jaw was so hard, he feared it’d break. And then he realized he’d never kissed her and his rage seethed. “What else.”
“None of your business,” she said coldly, rowing faster.
This feeling inside him was different than anything he’d felt before. It wasn’t just anger, it was… he wasn’t sure. He wanted to kill but not like normal. Not because something was ruined or weak. But because…he wanted something. And couldn’t have it. No, because somebody else had had what he wanted. He gasped at realizing. He was jealous.
The odd notion was immediately linked to her jealous God. He only wanted people to worship him. Serve him. Ruin certainly didn’t want her to worship and serve him, if anything, he’d want to do that to her. Was that love?
What all had Sam done to her? “Did he do what I did to you?” Just having the words on his tongue and in his mind made bitter acid erupt in his blood.
“What if he did?”
“I thought you were a Christian woman?”
“I never said I was perfect.”
“Did he,” Ruin demanded.
She pursed her lips at him, debating. “No. He didn’t.” She went back to rowing while Ruin fought to bring himself under control, not succeeding. And now he wanted her, he wanted to have her before anybody else could. He stared at her and she stared at him back. He remembered her marriage spiel. Love, and responsibility. “What do I do to marry you?”
Her brows raised as she came to the first trap and pulled it up. “You don’t do anything.” She snatched a few raw fish from her bucket, threw it in the trap, shut it, and dropped it back in the water, leveling a hard gaze at him. “Because I don’t want to marry you.”
More fury erupted inside him and he had to wait a few moments before unhinging his jaw. “You said you did.”
“No,” She took up the oars again, “I said I wasn’t going to have sex with a man who didn’t marry me and that required a man to love me, which… you don’t because you don’t even believe it exists. Like God. Which is another huge reason I can’t marry you.”
“Because I don’t believe in God?”
“Yep.” She rowed with vigor. “Can’t be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.”
“You seem happy about that.” Fire burned in Ruin’s gut at the idea that she might be. “Why do you suddenly hate me?”
“I don’t suddenly hate you. I suddenly don’t like you.”
It took all Ruin’s might to not yank those oars from her and hurry them up. He wanted to get her inside. There was too much that could happen out in the open. They finally headed back and Ruin begged, “Please let me row, I need to do something besides sit here.”
“Fine.” She handed them over and Ruin took over with gusto getting them back in five minutes.
“Wow, what’s your hurry?” she asked, climbing out the boat.
“Just don’t like being out here at night.”
“I’ve lived out here for three years.”
Which was a marvel to him. He felt like there was a lot he was forgetting and it lingered at the edge of his mind, teasing.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding,” Isadore whispered. “Who the hell?”
Ruin tied the boat as an old truck pulled into the driveway. His stomach tensed at the idea of dealing with more people. He decided he didn’t like people in general. Ruin watched a woman hop out the vehicle with a beaming smile and run up to Isadore and hug her with a squeal. Family? Friend?
“I told you I would come soon, you thought I was kidding!”
“Wow, you sure are here, look at you.”
Ruin hung back a few feet and the girl looked at him, her face lighting up in a smile. “Is this your boyfriend?”
“Ohh, no, no, JD is just a friend, plain friend.”
This news transformed the woman. She went from bubbly happy to something that put Ruin on guard. Ruin stiffened as she approached and stopped exactly before him with her hand out. Handshake. He took her hand and shook it and she gripped his fingers nice and tight, making him want to pull back. “Nice to meet you JD,” she said, her voice low and her eyes full of… something familiar to Ruin. He’d seen it in Isadore but not quite so… bold.
One glance at Isadore made his stomach jolt. She stared at him with so much hate in her eyes and her jaw cocked to the side. Now what had he done?
“I’m Stacey,” she giggled, still shaking Ruins hand.
“I’m Ruin.”
She gasped with fire in her eyes. “That your real name? It’s soooo sexy,” she said over her shoulder to Isadore who suddenly smiled warmly.
The girl turned back to Ruin and Isadore’s face snapped back to dangerous looking, her gaze on the never-ending handshake.
It occurred to Ruin like an instant revelation that whatever this woman was doing produced something in Isadore that he liked. It was more than anger. It was anger at the woman and him. Ruin wasn’t sure why or what actually angered her yet, but he was sure it was something he liked and needed even. And like a man gone a year without food, he pounced with a hunger for more. It had to be pure instinct that told him to kiss the woman’s hand. Very slowly, he drew her hand to his lips and placed a lingering kiss on it.
“A pleasure, Stacey.”
When Isadore spun around and stormed toward the house, Ruin couldn’t contain his smile at discovering he’d stumbled into something amazing. But at the same time, the way his power swirled in him said he was playing with danger. But his hunger had taken over. In the back of his mind, he knew something pivotal was happening, and he was ready to take his chances and figure the details of that as he went.
Inside, Ruin let those hunger instincts guide him. “I think I’ll take a shower if you don’t mind.”
“Go right ahead,” Isadore said, with an aloof tone while putting on coffee.
“I hope you don’t mind that I spend the night,” Stacey said, eyeing Ruin with a smile.
“Well as you can see, I have no room here and JD is here.”
“I don’t mind,” Ruin said. “I can sleep on the floor.”
The fury flying out of Isadore’s eyes made Ruin’s power roar with so much aggression he had to excuse himself for that shower.
There was another feeling going on in him, not so strong but stinging him. The need to not do what he was doing. Stacey’s constant laughter could be heard in the next room and by the time Ruin was done, Isadore’s laughter reached him as well. He paused, listening to the amazing sound. Standing at the bathroom door, he closed his eyes, taking it in, contemplating the feelings running through him. They were hungrier now. What was her power over him? She surely had one, this was undeniable.
He acknowledged that the fire and ice inside him was indeed one in their hunger for her, and Ruin was in complete agreement with them. It felt like…almost a trinity of sorts. Him and the two powers agreeing on that one thing created something unique, and it was a thing in desperate need of much contemplation. And configuration, if he was to somehow obtain
what he needed. And what did he actually need from her? At first it was learning. But now it was more than just learning obvious things and needing a physical guide in this new world, he needed many other things from her. Internal things
One thing he was sure of. He needed to get to the bottom of this need with her, today.
Chapter Thirteen
Isadore fought the bile in her stomach that wanted out all over that bitch Stacey. What the hell was she doing here? Did Jared send her? She washed her face in the kitchen sink while that whore got her bags from her truck. She glared at her reflection in the glass of the window before she pointed at it and whispered, “You will not, I repeat not let on how much you hate her. Do you understand me?”
She nodded at herself and washed her face again, turning her head as the front door opened.
The bathroom door opened as well and Ruin rushed toward her. “Let me help.”
“Ohhhhh, th—” her mouth dropped as Stacey’s eyes locked on his ridiculously gorgeous and naked torso. That. Bastard. He grabbed her bag and she stared like an idiot overdosed on Zoloft.
Isadore broke out in a huge smile when Ruin looked at her. “Where do you want these?” he asked.
She gave a stupid shrug, thinking of the tramp being downstairs with him. “In my room. She’ll have my room of course.”
“Oh no, that’s not necessary,” she said, already making her way up the loft stairs.
“I’ll take the recliner, of course,” Isadore said as Stacey disappeared into the loft. “I sleep in it all the time.” She met Ruin’s glare as he ascended the stairs and she gave him the best smirk she could at seeing he knew she lied and didn’t like it. Tough titty bubba. “I was just telling Ruin,” Isadore added loudly, “how much I love sleeping in that recliner. And he loves sleeping on the floor. That’s where he usually sleeps anyway.”
“Well,” she called from upstairs, “there’s plenty of room for two in this bed.”
At hearing the slutty giggle, Isadore hurried up after them. Breezing into the room like a gracious host, she showed Stacey where everything was, the amazing view, all while the bitch smiled at Ruin’s body.
