Pain skated across his eyes so that the intense blue darkened and mirrored a stormy lake. "I do not wish to alert my kin to my presence in this dimension. They will not be pleased to find me with you. I married you because I loved you so much, but it was selfish of me to do so. You paid the ultimate price. I will not lose you again." He clutched her hand, wrapping his palms around hers.
"But they could help you fight against the demon. You shouldn't do this on your own. I'm afraid for you. I don't want to lose you."
Galaden's expression softened. "My one true love. You were ever thus. Concerned for me. Patient. Gentle. Even then you could sense things that others could not." He frowned. "The day you met me was a curse on your good soul."
"How did we meet? I know you said I was a healer, but why would an angel go to a human healer?"
"You were powerful, extraordinary. I was injured in battle, so Agrat took me to you."
Rachael scratched her head. "Why would Agrat do that? He hates you. I don't understand. Why didn't he let you die?"
"It was before Agrat met Phoebe. I was in his charge. He was training me to be a warrior and I was young and foolish enough to want to prove myself. I took a spear to the chest, right into my heart."
"But that should be fatal."
"I have never done battle with another angel, but it is said that to kill one, you must remove the head. Perhaps that is why I was so foolhardy. Even so, Agrat told me that he thought I would die, until you used your healing powers on me. So you see, he led me to you, though you suffered because of it."
"Don't say that. I'm not upset about what happened in our past life together. It doesn't mean anything to me."
"For me, your death seems like yesterday. Don't put your trust in angels."
The depth of sadness in his eyes was painful to watch. "I don't understand," she said. What was he trying to tell her? "They're the ones we should trust."
He bent and sat next to her on the bed, one large wing covering her nakedness. "In many ways we male angels are like an army, bred and trained to follow orders without question. If the larger plan requires sacrifice, angels will take lives, even innocent ones." He swallowed as if he had a big lump in his throat. "Do not revere us. Angels can be capricious and haughty. Members of my race consider themselves above humans."
"They are, I guess." She wanted to add they ranked just under God in her book, but something made her hold her tongue. Something was off; every psychic sense in her body told her so.
He stroked his hand over her face. "I married you in secret but I confided in my mother that I loved you, hoping she would honor our relationship even though you were human. Damn it, Rachael, my father was a king, but he was a man, too. I thought my mother would allow me this one happiness and sanctify our union. In all other ways I had obeyed and followed both her and my father's wishes."
"So I wasn't part of her plan?"
"No. I was destined for one of our race, so that we would rule over the civilized lands when I became king, but I wanted her to intercede for me and ask my father to bless us. I never cared for or wanted the power of the throne. All I ever wanted was you," he said.
"Was your mother the one who ordered my execution in my past life?" It seemed like a surreal question to be asking, but she'd dreamed the scene so many times.
"No. That evil lies at my father's door, but the fault is Agrat's. "
"Stop! Don't! I don't want to hear anymore." A sharp pain pierced her neck and she put her hand to her throat as the memory played out in her mind. She reached out and squeezed his hand.
Silver tears formed at the corner of his eyes. "I will never forget it. When my father found out about our love, he had you arrested."
"In my dream he is shouting and angry, pointing his finger at me. You're there, too, along with a soldier dressed like Agrat, but I can't see his face. He has a helmet on."
"The demon prince. My greatest enemy. He took you by force and brought you to my father. I loved him once, but that destroyed all feeling I had for him. You had no chance and you were so innocent, so beautiful." Silver tears ran down his face. "I'm sorry. I cannot speak of it anymore."
With his wing spread over her like a shield, she could smell morning dew and frankincense. "Lie with me. Use my life-force to heal," she urged him. "You have to defeat Agrat. I can't bear you looking so drained and I'll never forgive myself if I don't do this for you."
"There is too much at stake."
She pushed herself to a sitting position, put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down. "He will kill you, slaughter you and I will have nothing."
Galaden put his hand over her lips. "Do not utter those words."
His face was grey with exhaustion and she sensed sadness in him so deep, the well seemed endless. "You owe it to me to fight. Take my energy," she ordered him.
"This is an ancient curse, one that I promised to fulfill. A curse made in the heat of anger. I would gladly slaughter the demon but to take from you your goodness, your pure essence...I cannot do it. I prefer death." He stopped and turned his face away from her as if unable to look at her.
She saw the slivers of silver at the corner of his eyes roll down his cheeks. "I will never forgive myself if you die."
"Perhaps you will never forgive me if I live."
"Stop it. Hold me close. Connect with me. You have to get strong before Agrat returns. Take my life-force. You said you would do anything for me," she challenged him.
"You know not what you ask of me." His mouth turned down as he turned to face her, wrapped his arms around her and hooked his thigh over her hips pulling her in so that they were torso to torso.
She tilted her head up and caught his lips with hers, but he pulled back clearly unwilling to kiss her. Her psychic nerves jangled.
Guilt.
The sentiment resonated throughout her, the word repeating itself in her mind like a warning. Something was wrong. She knew he held guilt so deep it pierced his very soul because he hadn't saved her from the soldier in her past life, but he was hiding something from her too.
Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes, called up her psychic powers, moving into Galaden's mind while he was open to her, trying to sense what he was not telling her. A vision of black energy swirled in front of her. Mentally, her soul stumbled toward the vortex that threatened to suck her in and she couldn't pull back. She hadn't been expecting this, not from Galaden's description of what would happen.
Fear invaded her body, paralyzing her and she seemed to be disintegrating. She started losing sensation in her form. Was Galaden taking her energy or was it something worse? Whatever it was wanted to suck her soul right out of her. Fear trickled along her spine like acid. Evil. She could sense it. The black energy opened as it sucked her in and she saw a scene appear in front of her. There were angels with white hair that reminded her of Galaden's. They fell to their knees and bowed, their wings spread, their foreheads touching the earth in worship, but inside their hearts they were terrified. Who were they worshipping? Something large and dark loomed up. Terror made her rigid.
"Rachael, stop!" Galaden grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Come back to me."
She felt herself falling back into her body and the whole bed shook. She forced her eyelids to open, but he must have absorbed her life-force because she could barely hold them wide. All the strength had gone from her limbs and she couldn't move and yet her body trembled with horror. "What was that?"
"You were not to use your powers to see inside me while we connected. You have placed yourself in great danger."
"That image was real," she whispered. Anxiety rolled over her.
Galaden closed his eyes. When he opened them, desolation crossed his face.
"What did I see?"
His expression hardened like the marble he had been carved from. "My kin. I am a descendant of Lucifer bound by kinship to follow his rule." Galaden left her side as if he could no longer be there.
Rachael struggled to remain a
wake but it seemed her soul was intermingling with fog. Her psychic acuity, the one great skill that helped her find truth, faded as she struggled to stay conscious. Her mind was too misty to summon her gift. Helpless, she watched as Galaden, his face brittle with determination, strode toward the doorway. He raised his hand and white energy flowed from his palm. The seal on the apartment door vanished and it opened to reveal Envy guarding its entrance.
A shudder passed through Rachael at the sight of the demon.
Envy stood over seven feet tall even without its head on its shoulders, evil emanating from its body. Under its arm, it held its head, the eyes glowing, watching.
"Command the troops to assemble. It is time to track and destroy the demon. Do not harm the princess." He handed Envy the necklace. "This contains her energy signature. When you find her bring her to me."
There was a ruthlessness to his tone when he said the word 'princess' that Rachael had never heard before, and she didn't need her gift to know that something was desperately wrong. Fear like a blade struck her heart. The creature Envy was malevolent and Galaden commanded it with ease.
What hellish thing had she set in train?
She tried to order her body to rise but she could do no more than raise her forearm and even then it flopped uselessly by her side. She could sense her mind sliding into a dreamlike state and finally her eyelids closed as the outside world disappeared.
She fought to maintain a tie to Galaden by throwing out a gold chain of light and winding it around him, binding them together, so that she could remain linked. Mentally, she clung to the chain to keep their connection, but instead of staying in this lifetime, she seemed to be traveling backwards in time to their previous life.
The last thing she remembered was Galaden's words that, 'some humans go into a coma.'
House of the Healer 948 BC
"Rachael! Daughter come quickly."
The urgent tone in her mother's voice alerted Rachael that something was amiss. She packed her herbs in her basket and raced through the field and up the hill toward her father's villa.
Her mother hurried to meet her and grabbed her hand. "Prepare yourself daughter, the demon son of the king has entered our home. I fear you will need to call on all your powers to help our family survive this encounter."
Danger prickled all the way down her spine, but there was no time to respond to her mother's warning. When she approached, she saw a magnificent stranger with long dark hair standing at the entrance talking to her father and while he didn't have an evil face, her gift allowed her to see the dense, dark energy that surrounded him. Her throat tightened with trepidation. She knew he was from royalty from his quality linen tunic and colored robe with the king's serpent insignia embroidered onto it. At his side, he wore a fine bronze dagger. She couldn't take her eyes off it and a vision of it twisting in a victim's heart came to mind as she approached him. This man brought death to those he encountered. No wonder the prickles of fear radiated throughout her when she normally carried peace. May Yahweh help her deal with this dark energy that had entered her house of healing.
When he turned, he studied her with eyes so black and powerful she wanted to step back and escape his gaze. Her basket of herbs dropped by her side and if it weren’t for her mother who gripped her arm, she would have backed away.
Her father’s cheeks were reddened and when he came to greet her she could smell wine and sweet herbs on his breath, but a sour scent also met her nostrils and she realized her father was afraid of this stranger too. “Come daughter. We have the most auspicious guests. Meet his lordship, Prince Agrat, heir to the great throne of Jerusalem, who honors our house with his presence. His brother is resting in the healing chamber. I have assured his lordship that Prince Galaden will have the best care we can give him."
Rachael bowed her head sensing the urgency in her father's tone.
The dark prince towered above her, his scrutiny intense and she had the sense that the cost of failure would be deadly. “I have been assured you are a gifted healer. My brother is in urgent need of one."
“My daughter is young but she has the great gift passed down through generations. People come from many miles around to seek treatment,” her father said.
Her mother nodded.
"So I am told." The prince turned to her. "So you, Healer, explain your methods to me."
Rachael opened her mouth to speak, but her throat had dried. "Yahweh..." She coughed, trying to overcome her fear.
"Yahweh?" the prince questioned.
"Gives me guidance as to the healing method." Looking down she saw that her hands were trembling.
The prince laughed but his tone was barren of mirth. "What if 'Yahweh' will not guide you with this patient?"
"I do not understand, my lord. Yahweh rules all things."
"Believe me, Yahweh is selective in whom he assists. Follow me," the prince ordered her.
Had God turned his back on this prince? Rachael's stomach tightened with dread. Behind him, she saw her mother make the sign of protection. Rachael resisted making the sign too, not daring to affront the prince, but inside her she quailed wondering what evil had come to their house.
Her father backed out of his path as the prince strode into their villa and turned left into the treatment room. Rachael followed him, noticing he walked with an air of command. In the middle of the room, on the pallet lay an angel, his wings spread wide. Imbedded in his chest was a spear, its tip had penetrated the skin under his sternum. Silver glitter sparkled on the tiled floor beneath his wings and specks of light glistened in the air, gathering around the wound.
Rachael gasped, raising her hand to her mouth. An angel. A real angel. Such magnificence. Beauty. Awed, she stepped closer. A glow pulsed from his body though its color was a sickly yellow. He looked close to death. Even so, he was breathtaking like one of the great carvings she had seen in the king's palace when her father had taken her there as a child. "Why does an angel need my help? Surely with his bloodline — "
"My brother, Galaden, is half human and his physical weakness comes from the mortal side. You must tend his wounds."
Galaden's face was ashen and his eyes were closed but occasionally he heaved in a deep breath. Blood trickled down his ribcage and from the corner of his mouth.
"But he is dying," she said, seeing his injury and the way life seeped from his body.
"It cannot be so," the prince said, his voice hoarse.
Rachael moved close and raised her hands so that they hovered over the angel's body. She waited for her palms to become charged with the healing energy from Yahweh. And waited. Nothing. Instead, death lurked like a thief searching for an opportunity to strike. She withdrew her hands, dropping them by her side, her chest tight with terror. Why had Yahweh deserted her? "I cannot summon Yahweh. Without his guidance I cannot do my healing," she said, her voice distressed. "There is a curse upon this angel."
"Yahweh excommunicated his mother. She is kin to Lucifer and does as he commands."
Horror rent her body. "But he does not feel evil." She waved her hands over his body.
"I do not know what he will become as he matures. I only know that I love him well." The prince met her gaze before looking back to his brother. "My brother took this spear that was meant for me."
"He saved you?"
"I have seen many battles and I am not so easy to destroy. Galaden was foolhardy to rush forward." Despite his angry tone, his gaze roved over his brother, his brow drawn with concern. "I am told that mortals do not have the power to take the life of an angel."
"You know this, Lord?" Worry made her curt.
"Galaden has never been severely injured before."
So the belief had not been tested. Oh great God, do not leave me in my hour of need. Rachael looked heavenward and continued praying. "Yahweh, help me with this angel. Do not let him pay for his mother's sins against you. Send me healing for this angelic princeling." She raised her hands waiting for them to warm with Yahweh's heali
ng charge.
Nothing.
"Yahweh does not bless our kind," the prince said.
"I have never known Yahweh to desert me. I have lifted curses of a human nature, but this is something far beyond my powers." She looked upward hoping for a sign. A vision. Guidance. What was she to do? Her parents, her clan, their lands would be destroyed if she displeased the prince.
"It is not you he has deserted," the prince said, his voice rumbling with anger. His irises blazed.
"Your eyes are changing color." Rachael's throat tightened and she fought down the terror that threatened to rise. Instead, her hand rose to the protective amulet she wore around her throat and she sought calm within herself.
The prince, perhaps noticing her distress, closed his eyes and when he opened them again they ceased to glow. "Do not be afraid of me."
"I don't know if I can heal your brother."
"I will not punish you. I respect your gift. I was bred for war, for killing, for all that is black in the world."
Yet, he loved his brother like a mortal would love his kin, she thought, puzzled. She studied the black energy that swirled around his body like the desert sands in a storm. Energy this color had always signified evil and initially she had thought this to be so, but there was something different about this prince. "There is much good in your feelings for your brother."
His chin tilted and his eyes narrowed suspiciously as if he suspected her of lying to him. "Nothing about me has ever been called good."
He had the air of a man used to an audience of fear, yet there was more to him than there first appeared to be. "I do not know why this gift was given to me, but part of it allows me to know truth and I sense goodness in your soul."
His face jerked up as if stunned. "I have one?"
For an instant, under the steel of his demeanor, she saw his vulnerable core. "Yes. Most people see the outer shell of the human form, but I can sense what is within. Perhaps I can find another way to heal Galaden, if Yahweh will not answer my call."
Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) Page 9
