I thought about Jayden. Now in Silven's temporary care and who knew after that? Did he possess the skill and tenacity he needed to protect her? Silven was an elder. He would challenge your average soul taker. They weren't all therilgalen. There were those like Ulyn, the generation of soul takers before I was created. A draconic race, they were bipedal dragons without wings. There were also all manner of creatures Ceri-talen could send to kill Jayden, such as wyverns, another dragon species, the panther-like vilitaran, or the avian-based jut-tar-har, which easily stood higher than an elephant and moved faster than a cheetah. I'd seen Silven kill a jut-tar-har. I'd been impressed; they give me trouble. Silven has also defeated therilgalen before. But they'd been young, less experienced. If Qu-te-se found himself opposite Silven… the guardian didn't have a chance.
I realised I was anxious. For the first time, I found myself berating my actions. Why had I'd been so impulsive? I could have called the police and held the assassin until they arrived. Envoy were known well enough because of their work with domestic violence cases and their child protection activities. I could easily have made up a plausible story. Between the professional-grade weapon, the shots through the window, and Jayden's mother's reputation, I could have resolved the situation differently. Why had I killed him? It wasn't, as Silven suggested, to take his soul… I had been thinking about Jayden. About her fear. About how I had been stolen and warped, twisted into this creature that was abhorred by the light-dancers and how I did not want her to face the seemingly endless years of torture, the humiliation, the vilification. How could I let something that beautiful be destroyed? I thought about that moment, when my spirit had merged with hers… But that had not been all I'd been aware of. Her body had been against mine, too. Trembling slightly, the shock from being shot still affecting her. That was when my resolve to protect her had set in completely. She had become more than just another vulnerable spirit. She had become more than a task, a mission, the subject of a summoning. She had become Jayden Emerline Thaneton. A person who had accepted me as I was. Who had not feared me but had seen me as her protector. She hadn't wanted just any angel protecting her, she had wanted me.
And I had failed her.
Because of my rash decision, now Jayden had only Silven between her and Ceri-talen.
A soul like that.
A soul like mine had once been.
Jay
'Where's Therion?'
The angel raised his eyebrows and then shrugged dismissively. He was a real angel, all silver and white and almost androgynous. The long, silver-pearl hair was pulled back in a pony-tail, but his fringe had escaped. There was more than a touch of self-importance about his face and in his eyes, but he seemed nice enough.
'Is he okay? Last I saw him he took a bullet in his back, told me to hide in my room, and disappeared.' I decided not to mention the rest. And he had just disappeared. Left me there not knowing what was going on.
The angel laughed softly. 'Oh, he's far from happy, but Therion will be fine.'
'What does that mean?'
The angel sighed. 'Do not worry about the shadow-dweller. Be assured, he is not injured. He has been… assigned another task. His… expertise are not entirely suited for this assignment.'
He was choosing his words carefully, like someone who didn't want to technically lie, but also didn't want to be honest. I didn't have the patience for the kind of verbal acrobatics it was going require to get the truth. I decided he was being truthful about Therion being unharmed. That would have to be enough.
'Fine. I'm going to my mother's. Do you…' I shook my head. 'I don't know how this works, are you going follow me everywhere, hang out with us, that kind of thing?'
He moved his lips into a smile, but it looked more like a grimace. He didn't want to be here, I decided.
'I do not need to follow you in the physical realm,' he replied. 'I simply want to assure you that you are safe.'
'I don't need protection any longer?'
Again, his smile seemed a little forced, although I think he was going for reassuring. 'As I said, there is no need to worry. I shall leave you to your plans.'
He disappeared. Like a ghost, one moment there, the next…
There was a knock on the door. I hesitated. After Therion disappeared for the second time, I'd hidden in the bathroom until Yu knocked and then let herself in. I'd gone out to meet her feeling like I'd just had a waking nightmare. No one seemed to have noticed the two shots, but then, maybe they'd used a silencer, because, when I thought about it, what I'd actually heard wasn't shots but the sound of the window cracking. Never-the-less, Yu had insisted on opening for the rest of this week and next week. I still looked terrible, apparently. After she left, I called Mum. At first, I just asked to stay at her place, but Mum has uncanny intuition and eventually I admitted that someone had put two bullets through my window. We argued about making an official report, but I broke down and just begged her to let it go. She'd reluctantly agreed to discuss it later, possibly because I omitted that I'd actually been hit, and I'd told her I would pack a bag and get a taxi to her place. I'd gone into the bedroom to clean up and get my things only to find an angel in there and the room looking pristine. No mess on the bathroom floor, no sign of blood.
I walked back out as whoever was at the door knocked a second time. Only Mum and Yu have the code to the atrium door and access to my apartment keys. Yu had no reason to come back. Then it occurred to me; it was Mum.
'Mum?'
'What's taking so long, Jay?'
Hearing her voice filled me with relief. 'Sorry,' I called out as I hurried to open the door.
Mum was leaning on the stair railing in the atrium. While, primarily a writer, my friend Alyssa designed the circular staircase to replace the old one when it was damaged in a storm. It was made of glass steps suspended from non-flexible wire-thin cylindrical lights. The railing was also held in place by said lights and it made my mum look like she was glowing a little. It made me think of angels.
Mum gave me a long, almost-too-tight hug. 'Oh hun, I'm so glad you're alright.' She pushed me back, looking me over. 'You are alright, yes?'
'Yes,' I said firmly. I paced backwards a couple of steps. 'I won't be a minute. I just need to get my toothbrush.' I turned and ducked into the bathroom, but when I re-emerged, Mum was by examining the window. Why had the angel cleaned up my room, but not fixed the window? As I joined Mum, she looked over at me and I could easily read her thoughts.
'I'm not calling it in.'
'You don't have to, I can.' Her expression hardened and she took my hand, placing it over one of the small circular holes. 'That takes a professional, Jay. Someone had the right kind of rifle, they found a position across the street, they planned this. You've been home all of one day and a professional has tried to kill you.'
I looked away. 'I don't want to—'
'No. No one does. But you're a witness. Grief's ghost, Jay, I'd give a limb to make it me and not you. But this is organised crime and your statement gives names and details we could never get before. It won't convict some of them, but it tells us who to focus on. A young woman, captive, enslaved, has you to thank for freedom and a dozen children owe you their lives, because even if they weren't killed, their lives would've been sheer misery. But you saw a boy being pulled into a car and, bless your heart, you couldn't look the other way.'
My mum is rarely sentimental, but there were tears in her eyes.
'F—'
'Jay, language.'
How did she always guess I was about to swear? Instead, I groaned, 'For the sake of a decent coffee.'
I got a look that said she wasn't fooled.
I sighed. 'Right now, I hate you in a very teenage I-don't-really-mean-it-but-you're-the-safest-person-upon-whom-I-can-direct-my-frustration way.'
Mum hugged me. 'I'm sorry, Jay.'
I let my head drop on her shoulder and mumbled, 'I'm making a coffee, do you want tea?'
We were finally in Mum's car, heading
to her place. It took forever for the police to finish. Okay, it felt like forever. My place was invaded by forensics and, to my disbelief, the apartment where they thought the shots had come from ended up having a dead man in it with a case full of kill-without-being-seen. Thankfully the CCTV in the atrium, courtyard, and café proved I hadn't secretly left and killed my would-be killer. Two bullets turned up, to my surprise, one in the wooden floor and the other in the wall. I was grilled, respectfully, but definitely grilled. I told them that when I heard the crack in the window and seen that it looked like a bullet hole, I'd hidden in the bathroom until I thought it was safe and then, after Yu came up and I realised the shooter must have gone, I found my phone and called my mother. The dead assassin explained where Therion had disappeared to. It also explained the other angel's evasiveness as well as raising a lot of questions, like why clean up all the blood and the bathroom, but not the bullet holes? And where had the bullets come from? More disturbingly: how 'good' were angels if they were willing to kill? Yes, the person they killed was trying to kill me, but… they'd killed him. Not they, Therion. Was that why he was dark where the other angels were light? To be honest, thinking about it made my head ache and I let myself zone out while I looked out the passenger window.
'Hey. Jay?' It was my mum; we'd arrived at her place. She tapped my arm. 'C'mon. Let's get you settled in front of the TV with a coffee. I've got the new season of… oh, actually, you probably won't be interested in any murder mysteries, right now. How about something light-hearted, like Firefly, or some Whose Line?'
My mum, the geek, before being a geek was cool. Not that I could talk, who do you think brought over Firefly and gave her the complete collection of Whose Line is it Anyway? for her birthday?
'Sounds like a plan.' I think my smile looked more weary than optimistic, but I didn't have the energy. Mum looked exhausted too. I wouldn't be surprised if we both ended up falling asleep in our chairs; never underestimate the comfiness of a recliner in a dimly lit room.
A bleary glance at the clock put the time at almost a quarter past four. I wasn't sure what woke me. A feeling was all I could put it down to. It was the same odd sensation I felt when I saw angels. Sure enough, I looked at the other end of the lounge room and there was my newest angelic companion standing near the closed folding doors that separated the dining room from the lounge room.
'If you're going to keep appearing like this, I feel like we should be on first-name terms.'
He jumped. I'd startled him. For some reason I was a little bit pleased by that. Possibly because they so frequently did it to me, popping in and out whenever they felt like it without so much as a beg-your-pardon.
'Ah. Well, I'm not sure that's necessary,' he told me.
I gave him a deadpan look. 'You're watching me sleep. We may not be having sex, but I still think we should exchange names.'
'I know your name, Jayden Em—'
'Jay.'
He inclined his head. 'As you wish. Regardless, I am…' he trailed off, changed his mind about what he was going to say and said, 'I will not watch you sleep in future. I just wanted to make sure you are both well.'
'You gave me the impression that this 'assignment' was over when you disappeared yourself last time.'
'Ah, well, as I said, I was just checking in.'
'You're lying.' I held up my hand, forestalling his objection. 'Okay, maybe not lying, but you're not telling me everything.'
'It might be best if you think of me as a bodyguard. My job is to keep you safe. Most times I can do that from a distance, but occasionally I must be present. Conversation will distract me from my task.'
I thought about that. I'd rather have an angel watching over me than not, especially considering recent events. If he didn't want to talk, then I didn't want to miff him, he might decide he had better things to do.
I nodded. 'I can understand that.' He seemed relieved. I smiled mischievously. 'But just so you know, I'm calling you Garry.' That made him arch his eyebrows. 'Short for Garrulous. You know, because you're so talkative iron pots everywhere fear for their legs.' I got a perplexed frown and a dismissive head shake and then, surprise, surprise; he disappeared. 'Maybe I should call you Houdini,' I muttered. My mother's chuckle made me jump. 'You're awake.'
'I thought it best to not to be obvious, but yes, I've been awake since you started talking.' I started to apologise, but my mum shook her head. 'You were quiet, hun, I was sleeping lightly.'
Then I realised. 'You saw him.'
Mum paused. 'Yes, yes I did. I've seen them before. Not for a long time. I'd quite forgotten, actually.'
'So when Gran passed on.'
'Oh, I knew. Well, I was pretty sure you hadn't imagined it, but it's not the kind of thing you can tell a child to believe in. Soon enough they'll tell other adults and, well, there's imagination that adults are accepting of, and imagination they think a child is taking too seriously, which is when they start suggesting things like psychologists.' Mum shrugged. 'When you stopped talking about it, I just assumed you hadn't seen one since and, as I said, I haven't seen one for,' she shook her head, 'a really long time. Long enough to forget for the most part.'
'I saw one when Dad passed.'
'You did?' Her tone went up with pleased surprise.
'Same one as for Gran.'
'Oh,' she smiled. 'I'm glad. It kind of, well, it makes me feel like your father is being taken care of. And he always got on well with my mother.' She paused, lost in thought. I knew she missed my dad, a lot. She often talks to his photo by her bedside. I've heard her say good morning or good night to him and tell him about her day.
'This angel, Garry,' Mum grinned at the name I'd bestowed on him, 'you said he was protecting you, something about an assignment.' The grin had been replaced by a look of concern.
'Well, as you've seen, they're not effusive conversationalists, so a lot of what I've got is guess work. I don't think they're used to being seen. From what I can tell, their role is to protect people at certain times. Actually,' I gave her a sheepish look, 'I have a bit of a confession…'
Mum gave me a confused look and then she frowned, uncertainty clouding her expression.
'It's to do with the angels, that's why I didn't say anything before.'
'Okaaay. Why do I get the feeling that this is not good news?'
'It isn't and it is. Those shots through the window? Well, one of them hit me—' Mum started to get up, fear and panic on her face. I half rose myself as I made sit down motions with one hand. 'Stay calm, stay calm. I'm fine now. You saw that at my place, remember?'
Reluctantly, Mum sat back down, and I did too.
'The angel that was assigned to me healed me. I don't even have a scar.' I filled her in on the part about being shot. She took it rather well and only asked a few questions, leaving me to do most of the talking.
As I finished, she asked, 'Do you think, I mean, it seems unlikely, but this first angel, he came back to heal you, but after the second time he disappeared this new angel, Garry turned up—'
Mum stopped talking because I'd raised my hand. 'You didn't finish, you said, do I think, and then you kind of started rambling, what do I think?'
'Oh, uh, well,' she looked a little embarrassed, almost like she was ashamed. 'Do you think the first angel, do you think he was the one who killed the shooter?'
I took a moment to process her question. Damn, I was hoping she wouldn't pick up on that possibility. For some reason I wanted her to have a good impression of Therion and this, well, it wouldn't help. Neither would trying to side-step the issue, so I said, 'I kind of do. I mean, at the time, I didn't realise it. He shot at me and the angel disappeared, but he came back and healed me, but then he disappeared again. After that Garry showed up…'
Mum frowned and shook her head slightly. 'It does seem unlikely that an angel would do such a thing. It also doesn't make sense, why didn't the angel kill him before he took the shot? Would've saved him some trouble.'
Hmm, I hadn
't thought of that. I shrugged. 'It was a theory. Therion never came back, so I couldn't ask.'
'Therion? I thought they didn't give you their names.'
'Ah, I forgot to mention that, didn't I? The first one, Therion, he was more forthcoming than Garry. I got the impression his role requires him to be more direct. My theory is based around the idea that because Therion is a dark-angel his job is to deal with the… um, violence, I guess, while the light-angels are more passive. Kind of like how they have a tank in World of Warcraft who takes the brunt of the charge and the healer to, well, heal and so on.'
'Really? You're referencing World of Warcraft while talking about angels? There's a priest crossing themselves right now, but they don't know why.'
I laughed.
'Dark-angel?'
'Yes. You know how Garry is all silver and glowy?'
Mum nodded.
'Therion is...' I frowned trying to articulate something more complex than black. 'It's like he's made of shadows. But he has these gold markings, brilliant gold, like sunshine. He said his job is protecting the light-angels. Actually, he didn't say it…' I paused, not sure where to start. 'You remember the ice hockey game?'
Mum made a hmmphing sound, as if saying; who could forget it?
'While you were helping out, I saw these light-angels appear, they seemed to be there to help the spirits of those people who died to,' I looked up trying to figure out how to phrase it, 'move on. But this dark-angel appeared, like Therion, but his markings were red, and he attacked them and Therion appeared and, well, kicked his ass.'
'Jay, language.'
'But Mum there's really no other way to describe it,' I insisted. 'Besides ass isn't that bad, it's not like I'd said kicked his effing ass.' Mum started to object again, but, in my enthusiasm, I talked over her, 'He seriously kicked this dark-angel's butt. You know that massive crack in the ice?'
Soul Taker's Redemption Page 20
