Shared Redemption

by Michel Prince

  “Come now, Kiriana. We shall teach you the proper way to request to be with your love.”

  “Don’t worry, Kiri,” Nye said. “They’ll protect you.”

  Nye and Dilana went in the other direction. We went into the living room. Zarmina and I sat in the chairs while Kiyoshi leaned up against the mantel.

  “Kiriana, becoming an other is so wonderful,” Zarmina gushed. “You get to be with your love forever.”

  “Aren’t you nervous? I mean with them out fighting. Today was so nerve-racking.”

  “Of course we are,” Kiyoshi said. “But we distract ourselves the best we can.”

  “With the greenhouse?”

  “That and I’m the record keeper. Z likes to draw.”

  “Oh…what do you draw?” I asked, not really interested but not wanting to be rude. I couldn’t just sit around twiddling my thumbs while Nye was fighting.

  Zarmina pulled out a notebook and these weren’t watercolors or pastels. These were schematics for weapons. I smiled at her.

  “Are these feasible?”

  “Kiyoshi has made up a few prototypes from my sketches, but the Frozen aren’t allowed to use them.”

  Zarmina had created a bullet that, when it hit flesh, it basically exploded like it had C-4 in it. For Dilana’s arrows, the tip could unfold to create a blade that would slice through the body. There had to be fifty different weapons. Some seemed outrageous, but we were in the world of demons and angels. Why would we need to stay in the world of reality?

  “Why not?”

  “They only allow updates once in a blue moon.”

  “What color is the moon tonight?” I asked. “I’m sorry, but this just doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t we want to have the best up-to-date weapons?”

  “Trying to fight with Gabriel isn’t worth the hassle,” Zarmina said.

  “Fine. Kiyoshi, what records do you keep?”

  “Fights. Deaths. I track the closings of Hell’s Mouths. That kind of thing.”

  “Did you notice any trends?”

  Kiyoshi and Zarmina shared a look and I knew something was going on.

  “What? What is it?”

  Kiyoshi crossed his legs and sat down in between us.

  “Maybe the Frozen don’t know because they don’t care to look into it, but I think I’ve found a way to seal a Hell’s mouth forever. So it can’t be reopened in another part of the world.”

  “Why haven’t you shared this?” I asked leaning in.

  “They never let us talk.”

  “Your others?”

  “No. Gabriel only listens once to us. For the request to become an other. After that, we’re not to be seen.”

  “Well, then tell me your theories. Because if I only get one chance, I’m going to make it count.”

  “You’d do that?” Zarmina asked surprised. “It may jeopardize your chances to be with Nye.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. Would Gabriel really punish me for trying to make the Frozen more effective? If I was going to marry Nye I couldn’t let Gabriel scare me.

  “I’ve noticed a lot of things need changing. The least of which is we need to be more of a team. But with your ideas to back me up we may just get you in the field, Kiyoshi.”

  He smiled.

  “You, too, if you want it, Zarmina,” I added.

  “I don’t. I’m not a fighter.”

  “But you are a brain. How are you with GPS and other computer programs?”

  “Better than me,” Kiyoshi said, and Zarmina blushed.

  Now I needed to find a reason to allow me to fight.

  “Okay, Kiyoshi. What have you found?”

  Kiyoshi told me about the first recorded Hell’s Mouth, the Hippodrome Revolt in Rome. Over thirty thousand were killed. Following that, Gabriel was put in charge of creating the Frozen. When the right amount of Frozen weren’t at a closing, a riot occurred, usually racially motivated. A minor one was in Chicago in 1919, but it led to the Red Summer, a series of a few months when race relations were at their worst and riots broke out around the country. The list was a mile long. Bristol. Kenya. Poland.

  “Have you read Judges?” Kiyoshi asked, waving a Bible at me.

  “Huh?”

  “Sodom? How could people just say, ‘send out the stranger so we can rape him’? Those were Lucifer’s testing grounds. To see how humans would react to his demons infiltrating a group.”

  Kiyoshi pointed out Rosewood, Georgia because Nye was a part of that. He barely got out alive. The town had been chosen because of its train stop and a rural location which made hunting demons in the woods difficult.

  “Was the one who got out with him married? I mean, were they sealed? I see here you noted three got out.”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “It’s a theory that I’ve created. How many that died had an other?”

  Kiyoshi’s fingers flew through the records. Then he typed away on his laptop.

  “One. Only one since others came into existence.”

  “That’s what I thought. And how many have died at this compound alone?”

  “Over a hundred.”

  “This one, in Jedwabne, Poland. One day?” I asked and Kiyoshi nodded. “Infants were pitchforked.”

  “Yes. It was a massacre. Sixteen hundred. The citizens just thought they snapped. But the next day they reverted to normal. Ashamed, but silenced.”

  “So what’s your theory about how to shut the mouths down forever?”

  “I think the demons running during the closing is cover.”

  “For what?”

  “For whom? I think this is how trackers get into our world. They use the riots to cover themselves and get out of the city. That gives them at least a day, if not three, to get as far away as they can. Gabriel is focusing on the massacre and not tracking them. Bantlings are trouble, sure, but if we could reduce the number of trackers…”

  “We’d be knocking down their offense one at a time,” I said, smiling.

  “It’s just a theory. But the fact that the Hippodrome was the biggest massacre I’ve found. Think about it. If you needed to get twelve sets of trackers out, what better distraction than a massive unexplained riot?”

  He had a point. That was it. He was right. We could win this war or at least stop these pissy little battles.

  “How many others are there?”

  “Worldwide? Maybe twenty-four. With you, we’d have the most.”

  “So teach me how to talk to Gabriel.”

  We spent the next hour going over the ceremony. Nye showed up with some fresh fruit. He was wearing a pair of workout shorts and a sleeveless T. His body was mesmerizing. The cut of his biceps, the way his shirt clung to his chest and his ass made a shiver of desire run through me. Then he smiled and I got lost in his eyes.

  “How’s my girl doing?”

  Kiyoshi and Zarmina smiled.

  “I think Gabriel will be pleasantly surprised,” Kiyoshi said, touching my knee.

  Nye clenched his fist and I just smiled.

  * * * *

  Nye

  I hated being in charge, almost as much as I hated to leave Kiri. I had never heard of anyone staying with a compound from opening to closing, but after the closing in Lima, Peru, which killed three hundred normals, I should have known the demons would have used the soccer stadium.

  Gabriel knew I couldn’t take being part of the clean-up crew, he saw I’d lost my edge. For all of my existence as a Frozen, I had been a clean-up man. Kishinev, Jedwabne, Rosewood, Omaha, all disasters, but Lima broke me and Gabriel decided to redefine my position. Now I was a leader sent to delegate.

  Pulling on a white, ankle-length tunic, I inspected it for any flaws in the fabric. I found a loose strand and took out my scissors to cut the string. I couldn’t have a thing out of place. I slipped on my leather sandals, which showed the years of wear. I needed to have everything perfect. Zarmina was dressing Kiri and preparing her, but I needed to remember my part in this. A weekly report w
ould be more than just success and failure rates.

  Walking toward the library, I took a deep breath and hoped the butterflies in my stomach would finally land. Lars was eating what had to be a turkey leg as he crossed the foyer.

  “I guess it was a good thing ya waited to ask her, huh?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Kiriana killed the tracker for you. Well, stunned her anyway. Hell, if it wasn’t for her threatening the girl, you’da probably let the tracker go, wouldn’t ya?”

  “Probably. I can’t hurt a woman.”

  “I think cutting her head off musta hurt?”

  “Thanks a lot. That’s what I needed,” I grumbled.

  “I wouldn’t include her in your report.”

  “Why not?”

  Lars bit off another chunk of meat and pointed the bone at me. I’m not sure what he said but it sounded like, “Gabe wouldn’t like to hear she was in a fight.”

  “So I should take all the credit?”

  Lars nodded, swallowing the meat with a loud gulp.

  “Hey, she’s good for you,” Lars said.

  “I know.”

  I continued along the long hallway, then opened the double doors to my office and sat behind the large oak desk. With papers in front of me, I double checked my numbers with Kiyoshi’s and scratched out the last of the week’s totals.

  “Twice in one week,” Gabriel said. “I must be blessed. Has your anger subsided?”

  “Verily so,” I replied, not ready to look up.

  “That is good. So what have you accomplished this week?”

  Gabriel was thumbing through an old copy of the Portrait of Dorian Grey.

  “We’ve had a loss.”

  “Whom?”

  I looked to the sheet to make sure I had their names right.

  “Clark and Jeremy.”

  “You learned their names?”

  “Not in time, it appears.”

  “Troublesome. How did you lose two?”

  “They were ambushed. It appears a bantling ripped them apart. The bantling appeared to be hard for the Deumos to even control. We have buried Clark and Jeremy on the property.”

  “Very well. So you had at least one loss. Were there others?”

  “A few. We also took out a tracker in the most recent battle.”

  This got his attention. He turned and smiled at me.

  “A bantling was cornering a human and…um…well, we were able to kill both the tracker and the bantling.”

  “What of the human? Why would a bantling even try to attack a normal and why would you get involved where a human was? Your orders are to retreat if that happens.”

  Yeah, Lars was right. I shouldn’t have brought Kiri up. Gabriel would’ve preferred hearing we’d let a bantling kill a human then we killed the demons.

  “I believe the bantling was following my scent.”

  “Your scent? Now I’m intrigued.”

  “My Lord, earlier this week a normal was on the road and was struck by an errant arrow. I couldn’t let her die.”

  “So you brought her to her home and nursed her back to health.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “Not exactly.”

  “Nye…” He walked around the room and released air from his lungs as if they were a balloon. “Do you enjoy when I punish you?”

  “No, My Lord.”

  “I can’t even contemplate how many years I will need to add for this.”

  “Forever. Forever, My Lord, is what I want.”

  He spun around.

  “Have you found love?”

  Try as I might, I couldn’t contain my joy. With a smile as big as a harvest moon, I gushed like a school girl.

  “Yes, My Lord. Yes, I have.”

  “I can’t punish you by adding years to your sentence. Now what shall I do? You have been disobedient, but finding love is so very wonderful. I don’t know what to say. Will she be coming to see me today?”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  The door opened suddenly and my stomach dropped to my knees.

  Chapter 14

  Kiriana

  My body shook. I was wearing the light linen gown Zarmina had given me. All the bowing and scraping I’d have to do made me nauseous. I bit the bullet and opened the door to the library where Nye was giving Gabriel his report of the week’s activities.

  Gabriel glared, and I remembered I was supposed to knock. Shit. I closed the door and knocked three times.

  “It’s a little late to stand on ceremony,” boomed a tenor voice muffled by the oak door.

  “I’m sorry I was so rude…My Lord. I am asking for an audience with you.”

  “Enter.”

  Gabriel was about six feet tall. He had a light brown beard and hair that came to his shoulders and was parted in the middle. He wore a sage green linen tunic with black linen pants, and black sandals with thin straps.

  He stood behind Nye, who was sitting at the desk. Nye stood when I entered and smiled.

  “Speak.”

  “Are you the angel Gabriel?”

  It was a stupid thing to ask, but he appeared so laid back I couldn’t help myself.

  “I’m sorry, were you expecting something else?” Gabriel asked as he cocked his left eyebrow. “Maybe this is more to your liking.”

  Wings that had to have a wingspan of twelve feet burst from his back. The feathers were silver with gold tips.

  “Holy crap,” I said under my breath.

  For the first time in my life I knew what it was to quake in fear. Pressure built in my head and I didn’t know how much more I could take. But I didn’t dare remove my eyes from Gabriel’s.

  “Gabriel,” Nye spat, causing Gabriel’s cold, hard stare to divert for a moment.

  His wings retracted. My goose-pimpled skin tingled as it relaxed.

  “My Lord.”

  God, how I hated saying that. It was only going to get worse. With Kiyoshi and Zarmina, I had repeated the words a thousand times. Whoever the first jackass was that got sealed was on my shit list now. I wasn’t surprised the language was antiquated, but why’d it have to be so frickin’ fruity?

  “Verily, My Lord…I…beseech…your…approval…” Damn it, I thought. “Your…blessing of my love.”

  “Okay, you can do this”, the whispers assured. Nye was trying to mouth the words for me. “Just say it, dumbass.” Why was I shaking so bad?

  “For my heart belongs…fuck it.”

  Nye’s jaw dropped, but I couldn’t do it. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t afraid of being with Nye, I was afraid of asking it wrong and being denied. But I needed to ask my way.

  “I am here to ask to be sealed to Nye, the man I love.”

  Nye slumped in defeat. The air became cold as December. Biting my lip and rocking on the balls of my feet, I kept my eyes on Gabriel. Looking at Nye would’ve just upset me more.

  “Do you know the reality of this request?”

  Nye’s head shot up at Gabriel’s response. I was a little shaken too. The fear that ran through this house of warriors around the name Gabriel seemed unnatural to me.

  “Yes. But I ask that part of this reality be adjusted. For the betterment of the whole.”

  Nye’s body stiffened. I knew at this point in the ceremony Nye was not allowed to talk. If anything, the Frozen were afraid of Gabriel. Being ignorant of his rage was probably a good thing.

  “Adjusted?”

  “To allow the others who wish to fight to be allowed to.”

  Nye was pleading with me without words. His eyes were begging me to stop.

  “I also have reviewed with the other others. There are some patterns that could make it possible for all the Hell’s Mouths to be closed. Permanently.”

  I had to keep myself focused on Gabriel. If I looked at Nye, I’d lose my nerve. Nye was pacing behind the desk. His fists were clenched, until he sat down in the chair, defeated.

  Gabriel’s steel gray eyes were smiling at me even though his face wasn’t.
r />   “What’s this theory?”

  My hands started to shake, so I held them together. How could I think with a real live angel staring me in the eye? “He’s just like anyone else.” I call bullshit on that one. “Breathe in deep, prepare yourself, Kiriana. Feel Nye’s arms around you. Do you ever want to lose that feeling?” The whispers helped me focus enough and I laid out my plan.

  “The Frozen who have others have a lower mortality rate. So do their partners. By pairing a single Frozen with a sealed one, you could increase their life expectancy. The longer they are alive, the more skilled they are. You are throwing untrained, unmotivated fighters at the wolves. The newly Frozen need training. They need a coach. They need a reason bigger than Hell to fight. That is the reason those with others fight so well.”

  “Are you offering your services?”

  “For this compound? Yes,” I said, swallowing. “I have no problem with that.”

  Gabriel’s jaw jutted to the side and I could see him considering my offer.

  “We also need to increase the numbers before the closing,” I blurted. “We should have at least twelve to sixteen fighters in the house at all times. We need to eat meals together. Get to know each other. We need to divide the fighters up into day and night shifts, so they get enough sleep. You have people who were disillusioned with the world. Depressed. They felt they had no reason to live and you are separating them, making them feel more alone. We need to form a team. A group. A gang. Whatever you want to call it.”

  Coaching theories were running through my head at a record pace. I didn’t even remember what I had said or promised. I just knew I needed to promise anything to be with Nye.

  “So how would this permanently seal a Hell’s Mouth?”

  “Kiyoshi has tracked the mouths that have sealed poorly. He has a theory, the riots and massacres were covers. What makes more sense than distracting the Frozen from seeing the trackers escaping the area to set up the next Hell’s Mouth? According to Kiyoshi, during the run in Rosewood, Sander saw the trackers standing by the hole and then reentered Hell at the end of the siege. If the trackers go back to Hell, how can they reopen the next one?”