by Hanna Peach
“A personality,” Elysia muttered.
Alyx glared at her.
Elysia lifted up her hands. “I’m just saying, I don’t think your heart’s really in this.”
Alyx snorted. “My heart. Hearts are stupid things to make decisions by.”
“But Alyx, you’re not even wearing the ring.”
“I…” she trailed off. The small red velvet box was burning a hole in the back of her desk drawer. “It’s too big,” she lied. Gods, why was she lying? She shouldn’t be lying to Elysia, her oldest friend. But as much as the guilt tugged on her, she couldn’t bring herself to admit the truth.
“Really? Mr. Must Have Everything Perfect didn’t get your ring sized exactly before he gave it to you?”
“No…”
Elysia gave Alyx a don’t give me that crap look. They had been friends for too long and Elysia knew when Alyx wasn’t saying something.
Alyx let out a long breath. Maybe talking about it would help her figure out exactly what she was feeling. Or not feeling. Damned confusing feelings. Why couldn’t she just go through life without them? “I am happy. I am. I care about Daniel.”
“But…”
“I just feel…” It felt like there was a void in her heart. She felt…hollow. And she didn’t know how to fix it. “I feel like…something’s missing.”
“Move over. I can’t see a damn thing.” Vix nudged Balthazar.
The three of them, Jordan, Balthazar and Vix, were sitting in the tree right outside Alyx’s second floor bedroom window. They were hidden under a Mirage, Balthazar’s inherent magical ability, and the only reason Vix had agreed to let him come along.
Balthazar no longer looked like his demon self. He had “borrowed” a local’s body, as there was no way, not even through Purgatory, for demons to physically cross over into Earth anymore, the gates between Hell and Earth having been shut over two thousand years ago, locking everyone on their respective sides. The remaining true demons on Earth had long since gone into hiding because, due to a twist in the story, all of the Seraphim of Heaven, the demons’ natural enemy, had been locked on Earth.
The only way demons could come through to Earth now was to take over a mortal’s body. Balthazar had managed to convince a male with dark hair, milk-chocolate skin and very white teeth to give up control to him; Vix didn’t want to know how. She could still see his demon face shimmering underneath. Thankfully any mortals that looked at him couldn’t.
Balthazar begrudgingly let Vix have some more space on their shared branch. “Have you put on weight?”
“I have not put on weight.”
“The branch is practically bending.”
“That’s your big mouth weighing us down.”
“Shut up, both of you,” hissed Jordan, sitting on Vix’s other side. “I can’t hear what Alyx is saying.”
The three of them fell silent and leaned closer to the open window to watch and listen.
“There’s something else…” Alyx trailed off. Her bright emerald eyes seemed to look right through the window at Vix. For a moment, Vix could almost forget that this incredible warrior, who she’d had the honor of fighting beside more than once, remembered nothing about her. After all, Alyx looked just the same as she did when she was an immortal; same pixie face with marble-pale skin, same midnight hair that dropped like a curtain, except now it fell down past her shoulders. Vix was almost overcome with the urge to fly through her old friend’s window and pull her into a hug.
“What is it?” Elysia asked Alyx.
“It’s…nothing.” Alyx glanced away and Vix felt her heart sink a little.
Elysia sat up, her eyes gleaming wide with interest. “You’re holding out on me.”
“Really, it’s not even worth talking about.”
“Don’t you dare hold out on me or I’ll get out my deadly torture weapons that no man or woman has managed to survive.” Elysia lifted up her hands like claws and wiggled them at Alyx.
Alyx clutched her sides as if she was protecting them, her face breaking out into the first smile Vix had seen on her all morning. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.”
Balthazar pressed even closer to the window so he was leaning slightly in front of Vix and obstructing her view. She glared at the back of his head before nudging him aside and pushing herself in front of him.
Through the window Elysia and Alyx sat with their heads together like co-conspirators. “Don’t say anything to anyone,” began Alyx, “especially not to Daniel.”
Elysia’s eyes widened. “You’re having an affair.”
Alyx shook her head. “Oh my God, Elysia, it’s not anything like that. I just haven’t told Daniel yet. I’m not sure how he’ll react. Besides I’m not sure if there’s any point in even telling him.”
“Go on. What is it? I’m dying here.”
You said it, thought Vix. Hurry up and tell us.
“A few months ago I saw a job advertised at the National Museum of Prague. It was to curate their small European War and Weaponry collection.”
“That sounds perfect for you!”
“I know. So I applied for it and somehow got an interview.”
“Somehow? You finished top of your Ancient History degree and you practically run the Saint Joseph Museum for Viktor. Please, any fool could see that you’re perfect for the job. When was the interview?”
“About a month or so ago.”
Elysia frowned. “Really? I didn’t even know you went to Prague.”
“Nobody did. Viktor wouldn’t give me a day off. So I rearranged his schedule so that he had back-to-back meetings during the day and I snuck off to Prague mid-morning, did my interview and was back at the museum before he realized I was gone.”
Elysia laughed. “You didn’t! I don’t believe you.”
“I did. I even got Tomas to help me set up my work email on my phone. I sent Viktor a bunch of emails while I was on the train to make it look like I was still at work.”
“But your security card… If he checked the logs…”
Alyx grinned. “I left my card with one of the guards I’m friends with. He swiped me out at lunch time and back in at the end of lunch. Then he snuck me in when I returned and handed me back my card.”
Outside, Vix couldn’t help but grin. That was our Alyx, alright. Hidden there underneath all this…boring mortal-ness.
Elysia shook her head at Alyx, eyes brimming with blatant admiration. “You sneaky, smart, sneaky—”
“You said sneaky.”
“—amazing woman.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Okay, so you went to this interview ninja-style, and then what?”
“I thought I did well. But then I didn’t hear anything for weeks…until yesterday.” A smile crept across Alyx’s face and her eyes lit up. “I got the job.”
“Congratulations!”
“Thanks.” Her face fell. “But I can’t take it.”
“What the hell are you talking about, you can’t take it?” Elysia screeched.
Vix screwed up her face at the sound. That girl could give a fire siren a run for its money.
“I mean…I would have to relocate to Prague. And it’s a big step in my career, lots of responsibility, very little time off initially. But Daniel just proposed and I said yes, and his job is here.” Alyx inhaled and let it out in a huff.
“Well, sure, it would be hard with you guys living in two different cities. But Prague is less than two hours away by train and you and Daniel could visit each other on days off. I mean, distance can be good for couples, right?”
Alyx shook her head. “Daniel would never go for it. He wants me to move into his place next week.”
“Alyx, this is your perfect job. You’ve been slaving away for that asshole Viktor for almost four years. You practically do his job for him. This is your chance to shine.”
“But Daniel’s older than me and I know he wants to have kids soon. There doesn’t seem to be any point in taking a care
er job if I’m just going to have to give it up soon. Right?”
Elysia frowned. “Why would you have to give it up? Mothers can still work too, you know?”
“That’s not how Daniel sees it.”
“He wants you to quit work?”
“Yeah…”
“But just until the baby’s older, right?”
“No…for good.”
Elysia’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Vix could tell that she had so much she wanted to say, but she bit down on her lip hard as if she was trying not to. “So…” Elysia said finally, “what are you going to do?”
Alyx sighed and her head fell back against the wall. “It’s a lovely dream, living in Prague, working on my own collection, but…I guess it just has to be that.”
Vix’s fingers were clawing the window sill so tightly that she thought she might break through the old brittle wood. This is not right. The Alyx I knew would never just shrink back and live a life that someone else laid out for her.
If anything had convinced Vix that they needed to break Alyx and Daniel up, this had solidified her convictions. This wasn’t just about separating two people who were wrong for each other or getting Alyx and Israel back together, this was more than that. This was about the rest of Alyx’s life. This was about letting Alyx live out her potential as a mortal. And it appeared that being with the wrong guy would be enough to stifle her very soul.
“So you turned the job down?” Elysia’s voice floating out the window sounded as heavy and disappointed as Vix felt.
“I haven’t yet,” Alyx said. “I didn’t have the heart to turn it down when they called. I guess I just wanted a few days of knowing that my dream job was mine. I’ll call first thing Monday morning.”
“No,” hissed Vix.
“Be quiet,” Balthazar whispered, nudging in front of her again, ratcheting up the anger that was already swirling around inside her.
I’ll teach him. Vix shoved him aside so she could lean in closest then waited. Sure enough, it only took a few seconds before Balthazar tensed so he could ram his shoulder forward in front of hers.
But she wasn’t there. Vix leaned aside just as he moved, letting him throw his own momentum into mid-air. She held back a smile as he teetered, then fell straight off the branch to the sidewalk below with a thud. Vix felt their mirage shatter around them with a pop to her ears. A groan drifted up to them.
“Balthazar,” Jordan cried. Vix could see him preparing to swoop down. Vix grabbed his arm, holding him back and whispered, “Mortals are watching.”
In other words, Act human. Humans don’t fly.
“Right,” muttered Jordan. He proceeded to climb down the tree like an agile cat.
Vix sighed. Act human, not like Spiderman. Unlike Vix, Jordan had never lived among mortals. He couldn’t act human if his life depended on it.
She followed him to the ground pretending to struggle climbing down the tree like a real mortal would, then pretending that gravity was affecting her when she jumped down the last short distance.
She felt a twinge of guilt when she came to stand beside Balthazar lying on his back blinking at the sky. It hadn’t been that long of a fall, right? And besides, Balthazar was immortal.
Balthazar let out another groan. “Why the hell didn’t He make these mortal bodies with wings?”
“You alright?” Jordan held out a hand. Balthazar took it and Jordan helped pull him to his feet.
Balthazar brushed himself down and inspected each part of himself carefully. “I don’t appear to have damaged my host human.” He waved off a concerned passersby with assurances that he was fine.
Now that she knew he was okay, Vix couldn’t help herself. “Try not to be so clumsy, B.”
Balthazar whipped his head around and narrowed his eyes at her. “You did that on purpose.”
“I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who shoved forward so hard you threw yourself off the branch.”
Balthazar snorted. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you didn’t want me here, my dear.”
“Feel free to go back to Hell.”
Balthazar gave her a pearly grin that seemed almost too big for his face. “And miss out on your fabulous company? Never.”
Vix sighed internally. Seemed like she would have to put up with him for a while longer. “I don’t have time to argue with you. Alyx is turning down that job on Monday,” she said, looking between Balthazar and Jordan expectantly.
Jordan raised an eyebrow. “Which means?”
“Which means we have about thirty-six hours to break Alyx and Daniel up.”
* * *
An arm flung like a lead pole across Israel’s chest. He frowned and squinted open one eye to look down at the offending limb, tanned and skinny and attached to an unmoving body with wild blonde hair that seemed to grab at him like vines.
Oh, right. Tarryn… Tallie. No, Tatiana… I think? Whatever her name was, she had convinced him to stay the night last night. Admittedly, he hadn’t protested too hard.
He slipped out of her grasp without waking her, something he was embarrassed to realize he was a little too good at. He slipped on his clothes and shoes gathered from all about her tiny studio, splashed water on his face, found the least girlie deodorant to spray under his arms, and slid out of her walk-up apartment into the late morning Saint Joseph light, a soft palette of dusty white and gray thanks to the clouds overhead. His mouth was dry and his head pulsed but it wasn’t anything that a little breakfast wouldn’t fix.
The el Souq square, the city’s main marketplace, was between here and his own apartment, and on Sundays especially the place was bustling. He loved coming here. The hustle and bustle of sellers and hagglers, the well-to-do rubbing silk-encased elbows with the grimy poor, the piles of dried beans in sacks like mountains of pebbles, the flower stalls bursting with vibrant blooms and heady scent, the trays of honey cakes being sold out of hand-pushed carts, a paparazzi of bees buzzing about them. And more importantly…
He followed his nose, the smoky, mouth-watering scent of grilling meat guiding him.
Vix, Jordan and Balthazar trailed behind Israel as he slipped through the el Souq markets. He was tall enough that it wasn’t hard to do, his wide muscular build standing out among the crowd. The boy hasn’t lost his grace, that’s for sure, thought Vix.
She had felt a pang when she’d seen him again. He looked just like he had twenty-five years ago when he was part of their supernatural community: same golden skin and dark hair, heritage from his Egyptian roots, and wide, deep-set eyes that seemed darker than their true hazel color because of the intensity with which he stared back at the world.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” said Jordan out of the corner of his mouth, his thick light brown brows down over his mint-tea eyes. “Criminal in a past life. Police officer in this one.”
“I don’t know,” said Balthazar, speaking from Jordan’s other side. “The two professions aren’t so dissimilar.”
“Israel wasn’t a criminal,” argued Vix. In Israel’s past life she’d come to see Israel as a kind of…brother, and that fierce protectiveness rose up in her even after all these decades that they hadn’t seen each other.
“In his past life he used to run with Mason’s street pirates and used his gifts to climb up buildings so he could steal things,” said Jordan, distaste clear in his tone. “I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of a criminal.”
“It’s called survival.”
“It’s still stealing.”
Vix opened her mouth to argue further but Balthazar interrupted. “Regardless, he’s not an officer anymore.”
“What? Why?” She’d wondered after a day of trailing Israel when he was going to get to his job. All Israel seemed to do these days was drink and kiss strange girls, girls who were definitely not Alyx. “And what is he now?”
“He was involved in…an incident six months ago,” said Balthazar, his voice seemingly tinged with sadness. “After that, he quit.”
“An incident?” Vix watched as Israel stood at the side of one of the wooden stalls stuffed with fistfuls of ornate iron and colored glass lamps hanging like fat grapes, the once desert-orange vibrancy of the stall’s cloth roof now faded to a dusty brown. He had his hands in his pockets, appearing to wait for someone as he eyed the crowd. “What incident?”
Balthazar smiled brightly at her. “Are you going to admit that you need me and my information?”
“I don’t need you.”
“Oh really? Then perhaps you’d care to tell me why our old friend here decided to jump from one side of the law to the other?”
“If you don’t—”
“Shh, both of you,” said Jordan. “Look.”
Vix watched, peering around the stall, as Israel slid into the crowd and bumped into a rotund man. There was a flash of his hands at the man’s hip pocket. After making his apologies Israel skirted down the side of a stall.
Vix’s eyes widened. “He didn’t.”
“Oh yes, he did,” said Jordan.
They followed Israel and found him standing at a stall that sold grilled meat kebabs, the barbequing smoke wafting towards them, making Vix’s stomach rumble. But the smoke wasn’t thick enough to hide the small leather purse Israel held in his hand.
Vix inhaled a sharp breath. “He did. He just pickpocketed that man,” she hissed. She couldn’t believe what she’d just seen. She shoved down the urge to run over there, slap the back of Israel’s head and give him the lecture of his life. Or at least this life.
“What did I say?” Jordan sounded a little smug. “Once a criminal—”
“Oh, shut up, Jordan.”
They watched as Israel bought three beef kebabs on skewers with his pilfered coins. The stall keeper wrapped them in thin, greasy paper and handed it to him along with several cheap napkins.
They continued to follow Israel through the crowd and out of the el Souq markets, eating his kebabs as he walked with the air of a man without guilt.
