“Is that your mother? How old were you then?”
“Ten. Yes, she was my foster mother. She disappeared when I turned eighteen.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t living with her then. I had been out on my own that year, dancing at different clubs like I do now and working. No one really knows what happened to her.”
“That’s crazy. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. We can talk about that some other time. I want to talk about you tonight. And us.”
“Us? You don’t have a napkin or something do you? I got it all over my face.”
“Sure.”
Gerald wiped his face.
“Come sit next to me on the couch, Gerald.”
“I think I’m fine right here.”
“Why are you so nervous?”
“I don’t know.”
Eliza laughed.
“Just come sit next to me.”
Gerald sank into the black leather couch.
“Comfy.”
Eliza put her arm around him.
“Can I touch your wings again?”
“Sure.”
He made them visible, and she stroked his feathers. He shuddered in delight.
“Feels good?”
“Yeah. Angel’s wings are extremely sensitive. They’re the source of our power, they house our souls.”
After a few minutes Gerald let his wings fade back into their ethereal state.
“Hey I was enjoying that. Weren’t you?”
Gerald said nothing.
“What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you so shy. You’re blushing!”
“I guess I’m not used to girls putting the moves on me.”
“Is that what I’m doing?”
Her green eyes met his ocean blue, and they stared at each other. Sinatra’s voice, the warmth of each other’s arms, and the silence between them slowed life’s grueling pace down to their own: the rhythm of their hearts. Then the silence spoke volumes more than anything either of them had ever heard: louder than any melody or beat Eliza had danced to, and more compelling than any command God could give Gerald.
They leaned in and kissed.
Eliza caressed Gerald’s neck with her lips and lifted his shirt off. She held him down and explored his body with her fingers and mouth until she saw he could no longer stand it. She released him from his pants and disrobed herself for him, taking her time and watching him all the while.
She smiled at him.
“I’m yours. Take me.”
He obliged her.
Though Gerald had known the pleasure of succubae and the ecstasy of angelic resurrection, nothing compared to being a part of Eliza.
When both of them were spent, they held each other’s sweaty bodies. Gerald wrapped his soft black wings around her, and they let themselves slide into slumber.
Gerald woke hours later.
He looked upon Eliza’s body, smiled and felt the urge to stay with her, but he didn’t deserve such comfort, not yet.
Gerald spared a moment to kiss her forehead, stroke her soft lustrous hair, and breathe in her subtle aromas: her flowery perfume mixed with the scents of lotions and body soap and the smell of her sweat and their love making. He closed his eyes and breathed in so he could remember what he was fighting for.
Gerald sighed and searched for his clothes. He dressed himself deliberately, taking his time with each button on his shirt. He slipped into his leather jacket, zipped it and laced his docs.
“Gerald. I have something else to show you before you go.”
He fell over, startled.
Eliza had her cheek propped with one small hand and snickered at him.
“Sorry.”
He could not help but let his eyes help themselves to the sight of her ample exposed breasts. She noticed his lustful daze and covered her nipples with her other arm and gave him a sly smile.
He smiled back at her.
“No I am.” He sat next to her. “I’m sorry I have to leave.”
She looked down.
“It’s ok, but you know... you could stay, Gerald.”
“I can’t though. God needs me.”
“He isn’t calling you, or reprimanding you for being here with me, is He?”
“No.”
“He is giving you a choice, Gerald.”
“Maybe He isn’t on my ass because he knows I’ll make the right choice.”
Eliza wanted to show Gerald his future. His battle with Shrazz, the black skinned demon she had seen so frequently, but she did not want to change his mind. She could plainly see he had to leave.
She cried.
“Gerald. Please be safe. Please come back to me.”
“I want nothing more than to come back to you. After my journey, I will. And I will never leave your side.”
She held him and drew him in for one last kiss. They tenderly suckled each other’s lips and let their tongues intertwine.
“Go. Go before I start stripping you down again,” she said and wiped saliva from her mouth.
Gerald grinned. She unlocked the door to the balcony.
He looked at her while his wings solidified. He realized he could still stay, and she realized she could still make him stay.
He blew her a kiss and jumped from the balcony. She waved and kept her mouth closed with a smile.
She walked into her apartment and opened a black armoire. She retrieved several canvases and took them out onto her balcony: paintings of Gerald dueling Shrazz.
One depicted their meeting: Gerald in his leather, Shrazz in his white Falling Curtain uniform and red cape. Shrazz looked confident, and Gerald looked unconcerned.
In the next, Gerald’s burning wings covered the canvas. His face twisted in agony, while green flames burned high over his head.
In the final painting, a battle weathered Shrazz held a battered Gerald up by the neck. The angel’s smoking wings hung limp.
Eliza sighed and threw the paintings in a pile.
She had to have faith.
She went back to the armoire and found lighter fluid, doused the paintings in it and set them aflame. They burned with a green fire. She threw paintings of Gerald and the purple skinned demon woman on the fire for good measure.
Chapter 24
Riell watched Keep close The Horse. Methodically, he wiped down the hard wood bar with sweet smelling oil soap, swept, mopped and took stock. She wondered what it would be like to have a normal life away from The Falling Curtain: what she would have done, where she would have gone.
She had been silent for almost forty-five minutes, and Keep had been content with that. He loved his bar: his life. He cared for it like the son he had never had. It had brought him some measure of peace after years upon years of horror.
“So you’re chasing that angel?” Keep asked.
Riell jumped at his deep voice.
“No. No I’m not. Wait,” Riell stared at Keep in amazement, “how did you know he was an angel?”
“I noticed his innocence.” Keep’s baritone voice echoed throughout the empty bar. “He felt like newborn. Devoid of evil. And I know you, Riell.” He laughed. “You desire him, at the very least.”
“Yeah. I can admit that. He is pretty handsome. We kissed last night.” Riell smiled, and the image of a naked Drean in front of her closet entered her mind.
“Kissed? That’s all?”
“Yeah. He fell asleep kissing me. I would not let him touch me.”
Keep laughed.
“You have more self-respect than any woman I know. I’d like to think I taught you that.”
She smiled.
“Or maybe he just didn’t make it through your armor?”
“Both I think. But, I didn’t want to overexcite him. He is nothing more than a newborn right now, as you said.”
She sighed.
“Shrazz kissed me as well.”
“When did that happen?”
“Earlier. He debriefed me, and it just happe
ned.”
“Debriefed you?”
“Laugh all you want,” Riell said.
“Sounds like you have a predicament at hand.”
“I have my heart, Keep. I have not given it to Drean or Shrazz. Something as serious as love would drag us all down given the current situation.”
“And what is the current situation?”
Riell bit her lip.
“I found out that I’m not getting compensated for this job.”
“Well your advance was ten times what you usually get, according to Shrazz.”
“I know that!”
Keep winced.
“Sorry. I’m a little anxious about this. You and Shrazz have talked about this already?”
“He didn’t tell me much. Just that you two were on speaking terms again and working a big job.”
Riell took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
Keep gestured for her to continue.
“I’m not getting anymore because there isn’t money for Shrazz to give me.”
Keep looked puzzled.
“Shrazz paid me that advance out of his own pocket.”
“So did you decide to pull out?”
“Before I hit you with the rest of this I need a drink.”
Riell sat at the bar, and Keep flipped the counter up and walked behind it.
“What would you like?” he asked.
“A Bacardi and Coke, double tall.”
“So it’s rum this evening is it?” Keep pulled a tall glass from underneath the bar and put ice in it.
Where do I begin? Riell thought. I’ll just pitch it like Shrazz did.
Keep filled the pint glass with ice, poured two shots over it and topped off her cocktail with coke.
“He told me divinity is what is going to come from this job,” Riell said, when he placed the glass in front of her.
Keep tightened his fists.
“Thanks.” She took a long gulp from her drink.
“Who’s the employer?”
Riell took another long drink.
“Who, Riell?!”
“Satan,” she said when she put her glass down.
“I should have known.” Keep paced behind the bar, his usually jolly face unnerved at the mention of the deceiver’s name. “Why would Shrazz do such a thing?”
“Now you see why I needed the drink.” She sighed. “After this mission is over Shrazz will become a greater divine.”
“Half-demons are not meant to have such power. He will not be able to control it, Riell.”
“In the next phase...”
“There’s more?!”
“Yes. Satan plans to give Shrazz access to an energy source called the Faithstream, and after Shrazz has sopped it up they will recreate the three realms as they see fit.”
“I would have thought the two of you... after everything we’ve been through, after everything I’ve bloody taught you...”
“Why are you so taken aback by this? You’ve been neutral all this time.”
“You two are my friends, my family!” he bellowed, the establishment shook from his protest, and he slammed his hands down on the bar counter. He lifted his hands and saw he had damaged it. He shook his head in disbelief at his reaction and the situation.
“You two are the only family I have.”
“Keep, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know until tonight.”
Keep sat next to Riell at an adjacent bar stool and rubbed his bald scalp. She put an arm around him.
“He told me this will change our lives. I’m so tired of bounty hunting. I wonder every day if that is all I’m good for. I’ll finally be able to retire.”
“I never should have retired.” He sighed heavily and shook his head. “Riell I never wanted that life for you and Shrazz. I meant for you two to protect, not spill blood at the whims of others.”
“This is not the time to talk about my life choices. We can only go forward, Keep.”
“So make different decisions now,” Keep said. “Don’t go through with this.”
“I’ve already accepted the job. The Curtain will place a bounty on me if I abandon it.”
Keep held her hands in his.
“Do you think this is the right path, Riell?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t follow through then. You are almost four centuries old! Use your bloody independence like you always have and tell them to shove it!”
“I’m sorry, Keep.”
“Don’t apologize anymore. In fact don’t say another bloody thing.”
Riell drank the rest of her drink and stood.
“Thanks for the drink.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Back home. Back to the solace of Drean’s arms.”
“Think of him then, Riell. You care for him. He cares for you. What will happen when he discovers your allegiance with his sworn enemy?”
Riell lifted her green eyes to Keep’s and drew a breath to yell, but instead a sob left her mouth.
He held her as she cried.
“I don’t know, Keep. I don’t know!”
Keep nodded.
“I’ll be there for you both as well as I can. I apologize for my reaction.”
“You’re like our father, Keep. I know through your anger you still love us.”
“I do. I do.”
“Can I have one more?”
“Hmm?”
“Rum and coke. Double tall.”
Keep smiled.
“And tissue,” she said.
Keep provided both and watched her dry her eyes and sip her drink until only ice remained.
“Somehow Shrazz found out about Drean.” Riell shook the ice around in her glass before she tipped it up and let a single cube fall into her mouth.
“What? The angel? His name is Drean?”
“Yes.” She rolled the cube around with her tongue and tasted the remnants of the rum on it.
“Well how did he find out?”
“He had some kind of vision.” She crunched the cube with her teeth and swallowed it.
“A vision.” Keep thought for a moment. “Did he have a skull splitting headache?”
Riell gave a slow nod.
“Nearly pass out?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“It was divine inspiration.”
“Huh?”
“A vision from God. Why would God grant him such foresight given the mission? This whole situation makes me want to get snockered. It’s perplexing.”
Riell chuckled.
“You? Drink?”
“I’m only human, after all.” He smiled.
The light patter of rain could be heard on the roof. Thunder boomed in the distance.
“So this vision. What came of it?” he asked.
“Well after he snapped out of it, he questioned me about Drean and said Drean would help us complete our mission.”
“Does he know Drean is an angel? How would he help Shrazz capture himself?”
“No. He doesn’t.”
“Who is he after if he is not aware of Drean?”
“I gave Shrazz a description of another angel.” Riell walked back over to her bar stool and sat down. “A fallen angel.”
“What is the angel’s name, Riell?”
“Gerald.” She smiled at her cleverness.
“Why did you do that, Riell?! He has nothing to do with this!”
Her smile vanished at the sound of Keep’s rebuke.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I had no idea you knew him.” She stared down into her empty glass.
“He comes in here all the time, just trying to get by. I know he’s had his moments. But, we all bloody do. I did before I became part of the order. Gerald had just started to change for the better. I could feel it.” Keep buried his face into his enormous hands. “I wanted to see him make it.”
“Sorry.”
Keep waved her apology away with a huge hand.
“You’re sur
e that Shrazz’s plan was inspired by God?” she asked.
“I’ve had many of those in my day. Gerald must have angered God to merit such an intervention. I am assuming of course that Shrazz’s vision included him.”
“Yes. It did.”
“God could be protecting Drean.”
“Yeah I see what you mean,” she mumbled, and swallowed the ice. “Maybe He is trying to protect him, but wait...”
“What’s that?”
“Well, there was something that Drean said.”
Keep put his hand over Riell’s mouth. A shadow could be seen beyond the stained glass window of the bar’s entrance.
“Get behind the bar!” Keep snapped.
“I can take c...”
“Do it!” Keep whispered.
Riell used her hands to vault herself over the bar. She crouched behind it, formed the image of her longbow in her mind to summon it from her armory, and it appeared in her hands.
She drew it back as if an arrow were notched in it. An arrow with an emerald green shaft and a large silver arrowhead faded into view upon the bowstring. She slunk around the corner of the bar underneath the lift-able part of the counter so she would have a shot at the door.
“Who goes there?!” Keep bellowed.
“Uh Keep, you don’t have to yell. It’s just me,” Gerald said from behind the door.
“Gerald?”
Gerald, Riell thought. It can’t be him. Who I’m sensing out there is much too ominous.
“Yeah, it’s me. Can you let me in or somethin’?”
“Damn it, Gerald. You scared the wits out of me!” Keep said as he unlocked the door and let Gerald in.
Riell was on the verge of panic. What is he doing?! He knows that Shrazz and I are going to have to kill Gerald! She tried to compose herself, strapped her long bow to her back and camouflaged it.
“Hey sorry about that.” Gerald stepped out of the doorway and into the bar.
Riell caught sight of him first since Keep was still behind the front door.
She gasped at his drastic change in appearance.
Gerald wore a black leather trench coat with black slacks and a black sleeveless shirt. He had slim black sunglasses on.
Riell whistled at him, trying to make light of the potentially dangerous situation.
“You likin’ my outfit?” Gerald asked.
She laughed. “Yeah, you’re looking pretty suave there.”
“You know I’ve seen you before right? Shadowing Drean?” Gerald asked.
From Heaven To Earth (The Faith of the Fallen) Page 16
