Shared Redemption

by Michel Prince

  “It’s been hard, you know. To watch the other Deumos suffer. A few had been her servants at one time. Others couldn’t understand why you were so disgusted by them. Is that also because of her? The Deumos here are quite beautiful.”

  “Not compared…to…her.”

  I coughed up blood and Keir tilted her head to look at me.

  “You truly love her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then who do you want to service you?”

  “Nemesio. She is who usually heals me.”

  “You don’t like that, do you? Lying with them.”

  Her hand stroked my cheek as her nails cut into my flesh.

  “Once you are healed, I want to be punished properly,” she continued. “I’ve been so lonely here.”

  “I’ll buy a new whip especially for you.”

  “Now I know why she loves you.”

  Keir left. I laid my head back and closed my eyes. Maybe I’d never open them again.

  * * * *

  Nye

  I entered Kiri’s apartment from the door on the roof. Creeping down the hallway, I expected to find her in the kitchen or watching TV. D was right. I was owed an explanation. Passing her bedroom, I heard sobs. Rough, painful sobs that were almost breathless.

  Kiri was face down in the pillow. Her body rocked with each sob. It was as if her whole being was shaken.

  “Kiri.”

  Startled, she turned over.

  “I brought your music,” I said, dropping the iPod at the foot of her bed. “I guess…well…”

  What could I say? I wouldn’t be seeing her again. I did what Gabriel asked. I saw her. Now I could be sentenced. I turned to leave.

  “Thanks.”

  “Why? Why Kiri?” I asked, not turning to look at her.

  I stared at a crack along her wall. The silence was worse than not knowing. The heat hit my throat, but I just swallowed and hoped I could put out the fire.

  “Is your love for me not strong enough for…” That was the problem. I didn’t know. “Is it not strong enough to overcome your fears?”

  Nothing. My stomach turned. My heart pounded and I could see a window starting to frost over, but still she gave me nothing. What did I expect? I stepped toward the door, then stopped.

  “No,” I snapped. “I’m not leaving. I’m not running out until I know why! I’m a goddamn human. No matter what you think. What was I? A novelty? You were curious if the stories were true? Was I big enough for you?”

  Kiri was curled up into a ball. Her hair was disheveled, but still held the curls Zarmina must have put in for her.

  “Look at me!”

  She didn’t move. Her tears flowed as her body shook. I grabbed her shoulders and uncurled her.

  “Look at me, Kiri! Tell me what I did. Tell me you don’t love me!”

  “I don’t love you.”

  The words came out, but her voice was hoarse and she still wouldn’t look at me. Her head stayed bowed.

  “Look me in the eye and say that.”

  She shook her head no.

  “Why not? I think I at least deserve that.”

  “You do.”

  “Then look at me and tell me you don’t love me.”

  Straining, she lifted her head and her eyes locked on mine. I could feel a lead weight in my gut. Why did I need to hear it from her lips and see it in her eyes? Maybe it was because Louise had done that, told me I was nice, but she never loved me. Cruelty came so easy to Louise. Her honesty let me know I was a fool.

  “I can’t.”

  My hands released Kiri’s shoulders, and she fell back into the fetal position. I was gonna die from a coronary. She was trying to kill me. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought she was a demon sent to destroy me.

  “Then why are we not sealed right now?”

  “You can catch a cold,” she said, her voice robotic and empty.

  “You’re insane. You know that.”

  “Lars caught Zarmina’s cold,” she said, her voice so distant as if she were trying to escape herself. “She said they both had a horrible cold because it was the last of her human self leaving.”

  “So. You don’t want me to have to deal with sniffles?”

  “If the virus has to work its way out at an accelerated rate, then we’ll both be dead in a month. Two max.”

  “Kiri, you lost me.”

  “My HIV. I know you weren’t very interested in learning about it, but it’s a manageable disease. I can keep it at bay, but if I become your other it’ll be full blown AIDS in a week. Then I die. We die.”

  She finally looked at me.

  “I won’t kill you. Go on to Heaven without me.”

  “You love me? You want to marry me?”

  “It’s not what I want that matters. AIDS will kill us both.”

  She softly stroked my cheek with her thumb. The tingle from her touch was as strong as ever.

  Gabriel was right; she wasn’t Louise.

  “Come with me. Let’s at least ask Gabriel the truth.”

  Her hand fell back from my cheek, but I reached for it, holding it so our fingers were tight to the back of the others hand.

  “Please don’t drag this out. This was my own doing. I knew what I was doing when I got it. I had been playing Russian roulette with my body for too many years. Nye, you don’t really know me…Our love was too fast to be real.”

  “It’s real. It wouldn’t hurt if it wasn’t real, and I know when I’m not near you, my heart is heavy. It no longer beats. It’s just there. Kiri, please come with me.”

  The whites of her eyes were streaked red with endless pools of tears surrounding them. I stroked back her hair and leaned my forehead against hers.

  “I’d never force you into this, but if you ever felt for me the way I do for you…”

  Her fingers pressed against my lips.

  “Nye, I’ll always love you. Always. But I can’t take something as important as your soul away from you.”

  Prepared to protest, I pulled her hand away from my lips and a knock echoed through her empty apartment.

  Chapter 16

  Damarion

  “Hey, KK, I know it’s late,” I said as I leaned on the doorjamb waiting for her to open up. “I’m sorry I just lost—”

  Even in the dark hallway, when KK opened the door I could see her swollen eyes and red nose.

  “If your leg is in that much pain I should take you to the hospital,” I said as I brought her into my arms.

  “My leg is fine, DJ,” she said as she pulled away and tightened her arms around her chest. “It’s been a hard few days. I don’t have time to explain it to you.”

  “You look like you need to talk.”

  “I’m good,” she said though her voice was scratchy. She stepped back and I thought she was going to close the door on me when she turned her head and looked over her shoulder then back to me. “Did you lose something? Tell me what it is and I’ll see if I can find it in the morning.”

  “I didn’t lose something. I lost someone. A close friend.”

  “Oh, DJ, I’m so sorry. Give me a few minutes and—”

  “Kiri, run.”

  The Dark One came from behind KK, shoving her back into the apartment and me into the hallway. The unexpected attack had me gasping for air as my back crashed into the wall and his thick forearm crushed against my throat. His free hand reached behind his back and I saw a moment of panic cross his eyes.

  “Nye, no!” KK screamed. “He’s my friend!”

  “Get my knife. I must have dropped it.”

  “Unarmed,” I growled through gritted teeth. “You’re too good to me, Dark One.”

  Regaining my composure, I swung my arm up and clocked the side of his face and his arm released my throat. Squaring off against him I noticed I was in a precarious place at the top of the stairs. I dove into the apartment and slammed the door before he could react. Locking the door, I came face to face to a stunned KK.

  “Met some
new friends, did you?”

  “Well, you know, new girl in town and all…Why was he attacking you?” KK’s voice trembled as she back peddled toward the kitchen. The Dark One smashed into the door but its lock held.

  “Must not be a fan of Bowling Green.” No reason to keep up appearances any longer. I removed my hat.

  KK sucked in a hard breath. I stalked her as she continued to walk backward into the kitchen and her hand dug in the drawer with the knives.

  “That’ll barely give me a paper cut, sweetheart.” For the first time in months I could smell and the air was thick with winter and fear. “So tell me, have you become a soulless member of the Frozen? Or can I still save it…your soul that is. I have so much I’d like to do with you.”

  With another loud smash I could tell it wouldn’t be long before the door would be gone.

  “You’re a demon?”

  “What was the first clue? Was it the horns?”

  I rushed KK. She took off down her hall and slammed the door to her room. With a hard kick from my boot the door flew open and I found her with her hands on either side of her bureau. Her eyes were wide with horror.

  “Not fast enough. I thought you were a runner.”

  “I go the distance. I can outlast anything you bring.” A loud crack of destroyed wood told me the Dark One had made it through the front door. “Something tells me he won’t let you last long.”

  Springing at her, I grabbed her around her waist and dragged her out the back door as she screamed.

  “Kiri,” he called, meeting her cries for him.

  “Now, now, my pet.” I held her close to me as she scratched and clawed to get away.

  “Let her go,” the Dark One called right as I was at the edge of her roof.

  “I don’t think you want to give me that option,” I warned as I adjusted my grip and clutched the back of her neck and extended her body out over the alley. “It’s not a long drop, but the right angle could prove fatal.”

  Hatred emanated off the Frozen. Guess he’d been too distracted to find his knife.

  “I lost someone important to me. I heard you were involved, Nye was it?”

  “That had nothing to do with Kiri.”

  “Didn’t it? I heard your mate took the life of my Deumos.” I looked over KK’s body and sighed at the loss. My perfect, sweet, untarnished woman had no doubt been sullied by Nye. “Are you his mate?”

  “He has no mate so there is no one for you to kill. Not me and definitely not him. DJ, you know me.”

  “You thought you knew me. Who and what I was. Now what do you think?”

  “You’re still my friend,” KK croaked and clawed at my fingers.

  “I don’t think you want to do that. I let go…” I looked over the edge of the roof to the concrete below. “That will leave a mark.”

  “I know you’re in there somewhere. Please, DJ—”

  “It’s Damarion. DJ has been dead for centuries. He was alive once, but that has been taken from me too.”

  My shoulder burned as I tried to not drop KK. Feelings were more a weakness to me than any muscle in my body. Nemesio, KK, the Princess…Somehow I had let them all slip away, one by one. Looking in KK’s dark eyes pleading for me to release her, and Nye with hatred plastered on his face, there was no way I was getting out alive. Less than a year from reuniting with the woman I had done all this for. Maybe Pivane was right.

  Trembling under the strain, my arm curled in until KK was pressed flush against my body. I stumbled to the stairs with my forearm pressed against her throat. Her eyes bulged as she looked at me out of the corners.

  “D-Damar…” her voice caught between gulps of air.

  My mind swirled. I couldn’t grasp on to any concept besides taking her with me.

  Nye leapt and blocked my exit.

  “You want me to jump?” I threatened. “Or vanish? I’m not sure KK’s body will make it, her soul on the other hand…”

  My head exploded. A loud crack echoed through my skull and I instantly dropped to the ground as if every bone had been removed from my body. Looking up I saw KK gasping for air with her hands on her knees. Attempting to move my head I found nothing in my sights but the stars above me. Ironic…Cassiopeia. I could hear the shuffling of feet against the gravel pebbled roof. This was new.

  “He’s still alive,” KK panted. “How is he still alive?”

  “He’s a demon,” Nye replied. “Only a claustranima can kill him and mine is down by my bike.”

  “Is he suffering?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never had one go down like that…and I’ve never killed a leader.”

  Nye knelt by my ear and our eyes met.

  “You suffering?”

  My eyes cut to KK who was pressing her hand hard against her own ear.

  I couldn’t respond because a gun had blown the back of my head off. KK blew off my fucking head! When did she get a gun? From where? I suppose these will be the questions I have for eternity. There was no way Nye would be foolish enough to let my ashes kiss the wind.

  Sirens called from the street below.

  Nye took off down the stairs, leaving KK alone to deal with a partially dead demon on her roof. And I thought I was an asshole.

  Fire tore through my body and the world went black.

  * * * *

  Kiriana

  My head was pounding as I reached for a pillow and found way more pillows than I had ever owned. The sheets weren’t right, either. They were sensual. They were…I shot up and looked around the room. Nye had brought me home. To his home.

  The roof? Was it all a nightmare? No, DJ had tried to kill me. My throat felt as if razor blades had been poured down it.

  “Good morning.”

  The voice sounded annoyed and it wasn’t Nye’s. In the corner Gabriel stood in all his glory.

  “We have a problem, Kiriana. You have proposed a deal that has far reaching implications. But now you are not honoring it.”

  “I don’t remember you approving my idea.”

  “Still…” He sighed. “I gave it and you more leeway than I’ve ever given anyone before.”

  “Maybe you should’ve told me I’d be killing him.”

  “Courtesy is not your strong suit. You might want to work on that with your other.”

  Gabriel started to trace a trinket with his finger.

  “I won’t marry him. I won’t. You can’t make me.” I wanted to get out of there, but I felt as if someone was pressing me down on the mattress. Gabriel smiled. He was holding me down with his mind, I assumed, because he was still across the room.

  “Why do you want him to die? You don’t want them to go to heaven. To be reborn.”

  “Yes, I do. Your plan might actually work. But it can only work if we have a leader. A coach. Kiriana, have you heard of Solomon? The story about cutting a baby in half so each woman could have a piece of the child?”

  “Yes,” I said, still irritated.

  No way would I seal with Nye, no matter what Gabriel said. He couldn’t hold me here against my will…well, not indefinitely.

  “If you don’t fucking release me now…!”

  Gabriel continued his lesson as if he was at a pulpit and I was a member of his flock.

  “That parable is so important. You had a chance for true love, unending devotion from a man who adores you. But moments before you were going to get it, you are told that you could have it, but only for a short time. Now you still could’ve taken it. Both of you could’ve lived and died at the same time, so there was no chance of you ever being alone. You, you dear child, recognized you would be depriving him of something greater. The chance to live and fulfill his sentence. Have eternal glory.” Gabriel’s voice had an echo to it like he was in the middle of a large stadium.

  His eyes got wide and his hands extended. Looking at me, he must have seen my disdain.

  “This is a first. No other ever had to face this situation. You dehydrated yourself from crying at the thought of
the loss of him. In your heart, he came first, not you.

  “Zarmina is sweet, caring, and intelligent, but she is not all knowing. Lars was helping her fight the last of a cold she had. The virus was active and attacking her system. Yours my dear, is a different one. In sealing with Nye will you give him your virus? Yes. You will. In its current state.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  The pressure was off my body and I could move freely. I tucked my legs under me and sat up on my knees.

  “Your HIV, which is currently dormant, will freeze at that level. Nye will have to be careful, if he comes in contact with a human, to not infect them, but it will not mutate into AIDS. It will not start attacking your immune system. You will not have to continue your medication regiment. It will just be. Sleeping in your body as it is now. As are the cancer cells all humans have.”

  “I have cancer now?”

  Gabriel rolled his eyes at me and pushed off the dresser he’d been leaning against.

  “I’m just trying to make a comparison for you. Many awful viruses and diseases live in the human body, waiting to be stimulated by something so they can grow and attack. All humans have cancer cells in their body. They are dormant. When they are stimulated and start to grow excessively, then you get cancer. When you are Frozen during your sealing ceremony, then they too will freeze. How they are. Today.”

  “So I can seal with Nye and not kill him?”

  “Yes. Unless your plan fails and a demon takes you out.”

  “Where is he? Please. I need him.”

  “He is outside the door.”

  I leapt from the bed, rushed to the door, and pulled it open. Nye fell on his back and hit his head on the floor. I dropped to my knees and kissed him upside down.

  “I love you. I love you. I love you. Now and forever. I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Nye reached for my hips and flipped me on top of him. I straddled him and cradled his face in my hands.

  “I love you. Please. Please, forgive me. I’ll never leave you again. Never. I promise.”

  “There is nothing to forgive. Nothin’ at all. Get dressed. I don’t want to wait another minute. I want you to be mine forever.”

  “You still want me.”

  “I love you. You were looking out for me. I couldn’t ask for a better other. Ever. We shall always be safe because if I’d have heard the same thing, I would have done the same thing. Run. Given you up so you could live a better life. Zarmina wishes to come in and help you dress. May she?”