She watched him work, methodical tapping of keys and studying of sheets of paper. She thought she might fall asleep hanging there when Daniel pushed back his chair and exited his office. A rush of adrenaline surged through her body. Now was her chance. “I’m going in,” she called up to her two waiting friends.
The window was locked from the inside. Luckily they still had old-fashioned metal latches. Vix pressed her fingers to the window frame closest to the lock and reached out with Alchemist magic from the corresponding bloodink tattoo on her arm to feel the lock. Her blood warmed from the magic and there was the tang of metal in her mouth.
The lock was made of iron. Here goes nothing. Using the Alchemist magic, she began to push the molecules around in the metal.
A long time ago, before Vix was kicked out of Urielos, one of their hidden Seraphim cities, she had a special and forbidden friendship with a Castus, a higher-ranking Seraphim with inherent magic. In secret they would meet and Danielle would often try to teach Vix about her Alchemist magic, letting Vix practice with her undistilled blood-magic, a highly intimate and very taboo practice, especially between a warrior and a Castus. Should Vix be thankful that Danielle had taught her how to manipulate Alchemist so well?
The ghost of pain flashed in an old wound. Being thankful for anything Danielle had given her felt like a betrayal all over again.
“Come on, Vix. What’s taking so long?” Jordan asked.
She was out of practice and she was performing a reversal of what she used to secretly practice with Danielle’s blood-magic. Plus she was thinking about Danielle again. And that was something that made her blood simmer even now, after all these years. Even now after she’d fallen in love with someone else.
“Stop distracting me,” she muttered, unsure of whether she was talking to Jordan or the memory of an old love.
Vix focused on the molecules in the lock, shutting out all other thoughts, coaxing them with a calm yet firm magical push.
Almost got it. Almost…there.
Finally the iron lock completely dissolved, defrosting like ice into a liquid that dribbled down the inside of the sill. Vix made a tiny noise of victory as the window opened on its hinge for her.
She heard Balthazar sniffing loudly. “Did you turn that into…wine?”
“It’s the reversal of part of the Alchemist’s Challenge,” Vix said as she pushed the window open wider.
“The Alchemist’s Challenge is a contest we hold at fairs and festivals,” she heard Jordan explaining to Balthazar. “Each contestant starts with a bowl of water. They have to turn it into wine, then wine to iron, then…” She stopped hearing him when she slipped inside.
Her eyes darted to the partially open door that showed some of the interior office space, a jumble of open desks and other offices. There was still no sign of Daniel. She flew to his desk and grabbed his cell phone. She opened up a new message and began to type one out to Alyx.
“I have something different planned for tonight…”
As dusk was staining the Saint Joseph sky like spilled wine and casting the city’s “demon’s teeth” into silhouettes, Israel and his friend Anton sat on one of the benches in Remembrance Park, a park originally built to commemorate those fallen in World War II. It hadn’t changed in all the years Israel had lived here, although most of the sections of the tattered iron fence had been repaired. The air still held the slight acridness of smoke, and underneath all these solemn, ancient trees it never seemed to get warm no matter how hot the summer got. The lights stationed at regular intervals along the paths had already come on, creating sickly pools of watery light. In the distance Israel could see a thick rolling army of gray clouds racing across the sky towards them.
“I don’t know why you’re still here,” Anton said, cigarette smoke spitting out from his lips.
Israel leaned back into the cool metal bench to avoid the waft of smoke. “We’ve had this conversation.”
“And you still don’t have a good answer for me. There’s so much more outside of this forgotten city for you.”
Israel knew he didn’t have a good reason for wanting to stay in Saint Joseph. How could he explain it? Even he didn’t really understand it. He knew he would leave one day, but for now it felt like…like he was waiting for something.
The small familiar figure hurrying up one of the paths towards them made Israel sit up. It was Petr, his ill-fitting rags flapping against his skinny limbs.
“Hey, Petr,” Israel called out. “Where’s the fire?”
Anton gave Petr a look, then raised an eyebrow at Israel, but he didn’t say anything. Anton was probably used to his bleeding heart ways.
When the boy reached his bench he grabbed Israel by the hand and tugged. “Israel, hurry.”
“Whoa, Petr.” He grabbed Petr’s arm to stop him from rushing off. “What’s going on?”
Petr turned his dirt-streaked face towards him. “You have to come with me. Now.”
“Why?”
Petr stopped tugging and pursed his lips. “You just have to come,” he repeated.
“Not until you tell me why.”
Petr paused. He spoke slowly and carefully. “A lady told me to bring you to her. She said she had a surprise for you, one that you’d really really like.”
“A lady?” Anton snorted beside him, which Israel ignored.
“Does this lady have a name?” Israel asked.
“She said her name was Alyx.”
Alyx. Israel frowned. The name seemed so familiar. Like he should know this Alyx. “What’s Alyx like?”
“She’s real pretty and real nice,” said Petr with a smile and slightly dazed look in his eyes. Israel hid a grin. Little Petr might just be discovering girls. “She gave me a hundred Euros to come get you.”
Pretty, nice…and had money to burn.
Anton laughed and nudged him. “You lucky dog. How come you always get all the good ones? One of your lady friends must have figured out some kind of…” he cleared his throat, “naughty surprise for you.”
Petr’s face suddenly went all serious again. “Will you come?”
Naughty surprise. Well that sounded…more than nice. “Sure.”
Petr’s face dissolved into relief. Israel said his goodbyes to Anton. The instant that he stood Petr was tugging on his hand again. Petr led him back along the path and out of Remembrance Park. “Where’re we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Israel grinned. The boy’s enthusiasm was rubbing off on him. This must be some surprise.
Petr dragged him along in silence, through the streets of Saint Joseph until they came to the gates of a familiar cathedral. Israel raised an eyebrow. What kind of lady friend wanted to meet at a church?
Mass was only led on Sunday mornings, so St. Paul’s Cathedral was still and silent by Sunday evening. The clouds that had been so far away before were now above, casting a dull light over the city.
The clock struck and the bells rang out to signal six o’clock, startling him. He had always loved the sound of the bells. They’d always vibrated through him with a clear, loud tone.
Petr led him right to the top steps of the cathedral. “I’m to go. But you have to wait here.”
Israel chuckled. “Okay…what for?”
Petr’s look turned intense. “Your destiny.”
Alyx frowned as she read Daniel’s text again. Meet me at six o’clock…
The text seemed so mysterious and spontaneous. Daniel was never mysterious or spontaneous. When they met for dinner they only ever went to the Mercantile Club for drinks, two brandies neat for him, before going across the road to the Green Olive, where he always ordered a green salad and rump steak, no sauce.
Now he wanted her to meet him…here?
Why?
With the thick clouds closing in overhead, she knew a storm was coming. She’d tried to call Daniel to ask him to meet somewhere else, somewhere inside and dry, but his phone just went straight to voicemail. That was strange to
o. Daniel never had his phone off.
There was nothing to do except to hurry up and meet him and hope that the rain didn’t start before they got inside.
She felt a little flutter in her stomach as she approached Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Old and grand, it was a latticework of carvings and carved spires and towers. Of soaring stained glass windows, of thick, giant iron-studded doors. Of a single looming bell tower that pointed to the heavens and the wrinkled, golden-faced clock, keeping the time and the movements of the planets and watching over the whole city. She loved this ancient cathedral.
She crossed under the stone arch, past the lacework iron gate, and into the grounds through the back. She knew it was silly. But as she stepped through the threshold she felt transported into another world—one where magic could happen.
The sitting dragon gargoyles watched her from above as she walked across the soft carpet of grass around the building towards the front door. When was the last time she even came here? She used to come here often…on Sunday mornings with her mother before—
She shoved that thought away. She turned the corner and spotted Daniel on the steps waiting for her in front of the familiar opposing angels holding swords hammered lovingly into the giant gray doors. At least, she thought it was him. His partial silhouette in this dusky light seemed wider than usual. Had he been working out more? As she ran her eyes over the outline of his broad shoulders and wide torso, an unfamiliar heat rippled through her. That was odd. Good, but odd. Maybe this would turn out to be a lovely surprise. She wondered if Daniel would appreciate her ogling him and hid a smile. Ogling him at a church, no less. He would not be amused.
Why here? Why at a church?
Oh my God. Did he actually take what she’d said on board and decided to just elope without the fuss of a large wedding? She felt sick, like someone had punched her in the lower gut. He hasn’t seen you. Go. Turn around. Run. Now!
What do you think that means, Alyx?
Daniel lifted a hand to her and waved.
He’d seen her. It was too late now. She’d just have to figure out some excuse not to get married right here and right now. She leaned into the wind, which had picked up, and kept walking towards him. Her turbulent thoughts swirled to a stop as she neared the small platform around the entrance.
This wasn’t Daniel.
Who was he? Why did he wave at her? Why was he looking at her as if he was expecting her?
He must be a friend of Daniel’s. But where was Daniel?
As she got closer to him, his face came into view and her stomach began to jumble. At least a head taller than her, taut golden skin over defined muscles, his stance was wide and confident, and his chin was tilted up as he looked back her. He was gorgeous. But there was an edge to his beauty, his dark clothes, the stubble shadowing his cut jaw, and a mischievousness to his eyes which, in this light, looked as gray as the metal of the doors. His dark hair was messy and fell over his forehead. Strangely, her fingers itched to push it back, an urge that seemed so familiar, and she just knew his locks would be as soft as they looked.
I know him.
But how do I know him?
A disjointed image floated up in her head. It was an image of this very same man, smiling at her…smiling at her as if she was his whole world. In her mind’s image he seemed younger, and his hair was longer, curling at his collar. But there was no mistaking him. Was this a memory? If it was she couldn’t place it. Where had it come from? And this was strange…in her memory he had a pale scar that cut across his top lip that the man in real life didn’t have. They couldn’t be the same man.
“Hello?” she said tentatively. “Have you been waiting for me?”
There it was. That smile that shone brilliantly across his face. The same smile from that strange shard of memory, except in her memory his smile made his scar pale to silver.
He laughed softly, almost like a playful growl. Then he spoke, “Apparently so.” His voice was deep and smooth like a running bass guitar riff and it trickled into her pores and plucked at her skin. Her heart went aflutter.
You’re here to meet your destiny.
Israel didn’t believe in destiny. Destiny was not what he thought when he saw her approaching around the side of the cathedral. What he did feel was one hell of a mule kick in his chest.
This must be Alyx.
Something about her caught his deepest instinctive attention. Perhaps it was the hints of her slim body under those black tailored pants and a white blouse under a matching black jacket. Or in the way she moved, sleek like a gazelle. Maybe it was the wind tousling her long dark hair around her pale face, letting him catch only glimpses of her red mouth. His peripheral dimmed so that she was the only clear thing in his eyes.
As she got closer he began to make out more features on her heart-shaped face. She was stunning, sharp cheekbones like smooth china, and a pair of cat-shaped eyes trimmed with dark lashes and set with brilliant jade. She met his gaze without blinking.
An image of her flashed across his mind but with different hair, shorter at the back but with two long blades framing her face, and her body donned in a tight black leather jacket with a stiff raised collar. It was a far cry from this outwardly conservative woman before him. Or was that just a veil? Something in the way she held herself told Israel that she wasn’t as conservative as she appeared.
He caught her scent… something sweet yet spicy. Something warm but sharp, like he knew she would be. It was intoxicating. And familiar.
I know her from somewhere.
Something inside him woke, rising, fluttering to life, opening its long-closed eyes.
At the same time her chest and shoulders hitched, as if she just took in a sharp breath. He, on the other hand, had stopped breathing. Everything slowed to the silence between heartbeats.
Say something.
“Hello?” She beat him to it. Her voice was clear and soft. She had a slight accent that told him she was local but she’d been educated in a way that had refined it. “Have you been waiting for me?”
All my life.
Nerves tickled his belly, making him laugh, and he smiled so broadly that it almost hurt. “Apparently so.”
Her shoulders relaxed in apparent relief. She smiled back at him and it reached up to her sparkling eyes. His heart began to beat against his rib bones as if it wanted out so it could get as close to this perfect creature as possible.
For a few moments he just looked at her. And she looked at him.
He felt this strange familiarity with her and yet he couldn’t place her. How embarrassing. Where had he met her before? He better figure out where he knew her from and quickly.
Say something, dammit.
“Hi,” he found himself saying. His mind wasn’t working so well.
A slight flush colored her cheeks. “Hi,” she said back.
“Alyx?”
She looked surprised that he knew her name. That was odd. “Yes. And you are?”
“I’m Israel.” Before he realized what he was doing, he was holding out his right hand, reaching for her.
She didn’t hesitate in sliding her small soft hand into his. The touch of her sent his blood thundering around his body and roaring in his ears. He never wanted to let go.
“Well, will you look at that?” Balthazar said.
Through the dusty window of the nearby garden shed, Vix watched Israel and Alyx standing before each other on the top steps of the cathedral, still holding hands. They were just standing there, staring mutely at each other, despite the fierce wind that whipped up leaves around them.
Vix’s chest swelled with pride and she could not contain the happiness from bursting across her face in a grin. “Told you it would work.”
Balthazar nudged Vix. “Do you think we’ll get invited to their wedding?”
Jordan, standing on Vix’s other side, was the only one who was watching the mortal pair solemnly, his arms folded across his chest. “It takes more than an initial connection and
two minutes of making googly eyes at each other to forge a lifelong commitment.”
“True,” said Vix, “but we already know that these two can make it. I mean, look at all they did for each other in their past lives. Look at all they went through.”
Jordan turned towards her. There was barely any light in the shed but Seraphim eyes worked like cats’. She didn’t need light to see that his eyebrows were furrowed and his normally thick lips were pressed thin. “If they were meant to reunite in this life, why hasn’t fate brought them together herself?”
Vix tried to laugh this off. “You’re just bitter that you didn’t come up with this genius plan.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, Vix. It’s not right to mess with fate.”
“We weren’t messing. We were just…helping fate along.”
Jordan turned back towards the window. Israel and Alyx were still standing there. “Look at the sky.” The sky had become a dark gelatinous carpet, blocking out the remains of daylight. “It just doesn’t feel right. This incoming storm…”
“You’re being silly and superstitious.”
He shook his head. “I just feel like something’s going to go horribly, horribly wrong.”
Israel could stand here all night just holding her hand, storm or not. But she pulled her hand from his and he regrettably let her go.
She cleared her throat. “So, Israel… Are you one of Daniel’s friends?”
“Daniel?” Who the hell was Daniel? Was he a boyfriend? He better not be a boyfriend. “I’m not friends with Daniel.”
“A work colleague, then. Where is he? He said six o’clock.”
What was she talking about? He frowned. “Didn’t you ask me to meet you here?”
Her eyes widened. “No. I don’t even know you.”
What the hell was going on?
Overhead the heavy clouds that had been holding back the rain finally broke, showering down upon them, the cold drops making him flinch. “We should get inside. Wait out the storm.” Israel grabbed for the front doors of the cathedral but they didn’t budge. That was odd. They were never usually locked.
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