by T. R. Hamby
“Nora--we--we were together barely a week ago,” Roone said weakly.
“You don’t trust Father?”
Roone thought. Honestly, he wasn’t sure anymore. Father had stolen a child and given it, inexplicably, to him. Why should Roone trust him anymore?
But he had said that Michael had done something grievous. Father had been punishing him with the loss of his grandson, with the eventual loss of his son. And he had been giving the child to Roone and Nora, who would have loved him without question.
And now he was blessing them with their own child.
His heart soared, and his eyes immediately drifted to Nora’s stomach. He imagined her, walking around the house, cradling her middle. They would feel the baby kick. And the child would be theirs--with no one to claim it.
He let out a breath, grinning, and Nora sighed with relief.
“But Roone,” she said, as he pressed a hand to her stomach, “we have to give Sydney back. We have to.”
He felt a surge of despair. “But….”
“I know. But we have to. He’s not ours to keep.”
Roone looked at the child lying on the bed, and he felt an awful pain, knowing he would have to say goodbye. Tears started in his eyes, and he brushed at them impatiently. “What about Father?”
“It’s a change of plan. Father decided Michael’s been punished enough.”
“So he doesn’t want me to kill Gabriel anymore?”
She shook her head firmly. “No. Gabriel must live. He needs him.”
Roone looked at Sydney, who was still asleep.
She squeezed his hand. “I know you love him, Roone. But God is giving us a child in exchange. We’ll be a family.”
Roone let out a breath, and looked down at his hand on her middle. A child was growing inside her--and it was theirs. Theirs.
He finally nodded, a little shakily. “Yeah. Yeah.”
Nora kissed him, and he melted, cupping her face in his hands.
“I love you so much,” he moaned, brushing at her curls. “Stay with me, please. Don’t go back to him.”
Nora shook her head firmly. “No. Never again. I want to be with you. See,” and she showed him her hand.
He was amazed. Her ring was still there.
He looked at her, and they grinned.
They were going to be a family.
The walk to Michael’s daughter would be a long one.
Roone and Nora stood by the front door, facing the group of six Immortals. Sydney wriggled in Nora’s arms, and Serene paced like a hungry lion. She bared her teeth, hissing, and Roone felt the beginnings of a chill.
Oh god….what had he done?
But he shook himself. Sydney would be returned in a moment, and Nora and Roone would be together again. And this time things would be different.
He turned to her, suddenly afraid. “Please come back to me.”
She took a shaky breath, but gave him a firm look. “I promise.”
“Remember he doesn’t love you, Nora. He’s hurting you.”
“I know.”
He nodded, though he wasn’t completely reassured. He kissed her cheek, and she gave him a small smile.
“I love you,” she whispered, and his heart soared.
She loved him.
Then she set off, her shoes crunching on the frosty grass. Roone watched anxiously, convinced Melkira and Michael would steal Nora away as soon as the baby was handed over. He slipped his hand into his pocket and grasped the hilt of his knife.
Serene was crying, and Roone felt an awful ache.
Father had tricked him. How could he have tricked him, and how could Roone have allowed it?
Sydney was returned, and he and Serene vanished.
There was a slight pause.
Then Nora darted to Melkira, and at the same time he grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him. She stumbled a little, and Roone was enraged.
He withdrew his knife, and Melkira pulled out his own Blade.
“Nora!” Roone called, as she cowered behind Melkira.
“She doesn’t want you,” Melkira spat, his eyes dark.
“Roone, get out of here,” Nora pleaded. “Go….somewhere else….start over….”
She looked anguished, and Roone swore under his breath. Didn’t she see how miserable she already was, back in the hands of her captors?
Michael took her hand, and Roone’s heart stopped. “No--Nora--please don’t leave me--”
But Michael was holding her, and together they tipped backward. They vanished, and Roone swore.
“Come any closer and we’ll show you exactly what you did to her,” a young man, with the same blue eyes as that eagle, said.
“She’ll come back to me,” Roone told himself frantically. “She needs me….she’s hurt….”
“You’re sick,” Melkira growled. “Go back inside.”
White hot anger bubbled inside him, and he stared Melkira down. “Come make me, King.”
And he took a step forward.
It was almost instantaneous. Melkira readied his sword, and then a tall, large Angel suddenly appeared before him. He had thinning ginger hair, and what looked like mottled skin. There was a gruesome wound in his neck.
Roone watched, bewildered, as the Angel lifted his hand and struck Melkira across the face. He fell, and suddenly there was a swarm of Angels, materializing out of thin air with weapons swinging.
Roone stood there, shocked and unsure of what to do, when another Angel appeared right before him. She was gray and mottled too, with long dark hair.
She grabbed him by the shirt and threw him to the ground. Roone swung his knife, and she caught his wrist, wrenching the weapon from his fingers. He jerked, not knowing what to do, and managed to knee her in the side. She shrieked, furious.
She wrapped her hands around his throat, and he struggled, desperate for air. She grinned with black teeth, and she smelled strongly of congealed blood.
“I don’t care what he says,” she breathed, “I’m going to kill you.”
Roone was flushed, dizzy. He struck out, and his fist made contact with her jaw. She collapsed, releasing her hold on him, and Roone scrambled away.
Nora….he had to get to Nora….
He swiped his Blade from the ground just as the Angel raised hers. He buried it in her chest, and she screamed.
He got to his feet, shaking, watching as the Angel struggled with the Blade.
Then, to his horror, the Angel stood too. She wrenched the Blade from her chest, and stared at it, marveling.
She gave him a sickly grin. “Not so easy to kill, am I?”
But he didn’t give her time to continue. He stepped backward, thinking only of Nora….
The Angel shrieked, but he didn’t care….he was having a hard time focusing on the house….not the house in Walsh, not the house in South Bank….no, the Westminster house….
He landed hard on the floor.
He could tell there was a flurry of activity going on, voices and footsteps and shouting.
He sat himself up dizzily. He was in the foyer of the Kings’ Westminster house, a place he had only visited once. He had, correctly, guessed that the six of them would come here, somewhere relatively far from Ireland.
Opposite him was the living room, and the six were racing around like frightened mice. The young eagle-man was lying on one of the sofas, holding a bloody towel to his face. Michael’s son was beside him, as well as Melkira, who was trying to peek underneath the towel. At the same time he was talking to Michael, who was pacing. Nora and Gilla were holding each other, pale and shaking.
Just then Nora caught sight of Roone, and she screamed, backing away.
Before Roone could even open his mouth Gilla acted. She raised her hand, and a horrible sensation seized Roone’s body. His limbs stiffened, his muscles contracted, and he was jerked to his knees. His arms pinned themselves behind his back. He struggled, but his own body had turned against him.
Shit.
“Fucking hell,”
Michael hissed, his dark eyes glittering with anger. “You filthy little shit.”
Roone scowled. “Give me Nora. She’s all I’m here for.”
“You don’t know when to give up, do you?” Melkira growled from his spot beside the boy. “We just got attacked, and you’re still fucking stalking us.”
“I was attacked too,” Roone shot back. “I have no idea what those things were.”
Michael looked at Nora, who was shaking. “We have to kill him.”
Roone felt a chill, and struggled again.
Nora took a shaky breath. “We can….we can figure it out….”
“Nora.”
“We can. He’s sick, Michael. And now he’s in danger--whatever those things were have seen him.”
“Let’s release him, then,” Melkira said. “Drop him off somewhere.”
“I’ll find you,” Roone said. “I’ll find her. Nora….please….you’re confused….you have to see that….”
“This is sick,” Michael breathed.
“They’ll kill him,” Nora said. “They’ll find him….he’ll find us….he could give us away.”
“All the more reason to kill him, Nora,” Melkira said.
She stamped her foot. “The second he tries to hurt us, you can have at it,” she growled.
“I wouldn’t argue, mate,” the boy with the bloody face said weakly. “We have other shit to talk about.”
“Don’t move your face,” Melkira replied. “The bleeding hasn’t stopped yet.”
“What happened?” Gilla breathed.
“It was Ceres,” the boy said, and everyone paused.
“But--she’s dead,” Nora said. “You killed her.”
“He’s right,” Gabriel said darkly. “It was her….a….a different her….”
“Gross,” Barry said, and there were some faint chuckles. “She had the wound in her neck that I gave her. She was trying to kill Gabriel….I got in the way….she could’ve killed me, but she just slashed me instead….Gabriel brought us here….”
“Mine didn’t try to kill me either,” Melkira said quietly. “Raziel. He didn’t even use his Talent. Just fought me a little….trying to get to Gabriel….”
Roone frowned. He wasn’t sure who these Angels were, but it sounded like they were all after Gabriel….
He hesitated. His priority was, of course, Nora--and he certainly didn’t want to help her captors--but right now he was stuck with them, and helping them meant helping her.
“Father wanted me to kill Gabriel,” he said quietly.
He received disgusted looks.
“We surmised that,” Michael said nastily. “Thank you for your input.”
“So now we have a band of Angels that are after me too,” Gabriel breathed.
“Dead Angels,” the boy said, bewildered. “They’re fucking dead. We killed them.”
Suddenly he shifted, glancing upwards and wincing. “She’s here.”
Roone frowned, but apparently what he had said meant something to the others. They waited on bated breath.
Finally he said, “She says this must have been the horrible thing she could sense God doing. He’s….reanimated these Angels. They’re….undead. Zombie Angels. Demons.”
“Talk about against nature,” Melkira murmured.
Roone was bewildered. He had no idea who “she” was, or how she could sense Father’s activities. What was more, he had never heard of reanimated Angels.
All this, just to kill Gabriel?
Suddenly he was struck. “It was a trap,” he blurted, before he could think it through.
Everyone looked at him.
He sighed. “Father….gave me Roman--Sydney--in exchange for Gabriel’s life. But I was only a fail-safe. The real killers were supposed to be these Angels. It was a trap. Father knew you would come for him.”
Michael looked sick. “He used my grandson as bait.”
“Undead….” Nora whispered, and Roone looked at her eagerly. “Undead….oh god….they can’t be killed?”
Roone remembered his Angel. “I stabbed her in the heart. She didn’t die….she said, ‘Not so easy to kill, am I?’”
“Fuck,” Michael hissed. “This is fucked.”
“She said something else, too,” Roone continued. “She wanted to kill me….she said, ‘I don’t care what he says.’ Like she had orders not to kill any of us.”
“Except for me,” Gabriel said, scowling.
“You are just full of information,” Michael grumbled, shooting Roone a disgusted look.
“But why would God allow the rest of us to live?” Nora wondered.
They thought for a moment.
“Barry, hold still,” Melkira said gently, as the boy squirmed on the couch.
Michael was staring at the rug, his jaw working. “If he kills Gabriel, the rest of us will comply. To prevent more deaths. He can….continue to use us.”
There was a pained silence.
Michael turned away, and Roone frowned. He hadn’t been prepared to see this kind of emotion from Nora’s captors. They were supposed to be cruel, unfeeling things. But there was Michael--Michael the Murderer--clearly trying not to weep, and Melkira, who was shushing Barry as he stitched up his face.
Roone looked at Nora. She was hugging herself, her expression a mixture of fear and confusion. He felt a pang, seeing her look like that.
If they could just get away….he would protect her….
“What do we do?” Gilla breathed.
Michael looked at Melkira. “How many were there?”
“At least six,” Gabriel said.
“But if we can’t kill them….” Nora said, trailing off fearfully.
“We can’t kill them with Blades,” Melkira said thoughtfully, “but maybe we can with fire. Raziel wasn’t using his Talent--might have been too risky.”
There were slow nods.
“We have to leave,” Michael said, “in the meantime. Leave the continent.”
He looked at Roone. “I really don’t want to take you anywhere.”
Roone was more than happy to disappoint him. He would follow them to the ends of the earth if it meant saving Nora.
He looked at her, and she looked away, shivering. He felt a horrible ache--he didn’t want her to look at him that way.
“I have a place,” Melkira sighed.
Michael leaned forward, and Melkira whispered in his ear.
Michael thought, then nodded. “Yeah. Good place.”
And he looked at Roone. There was such danger in his eyes that for a moment Roone was fearful.
“If you touch her, if you look at her, if you breathe near her--”
“If you try to kidnap me again, Roone, I will kill you,” Nora interrupted, her voice steely.
She took a steadying breath. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t want to be with you, and I don’t love you. I will never love you. The only thing I feel for you is pity.”
She paused, before finishing with, “This is your last chance. Do not make me do it.”
Roone stared at her, shocked and pained. She was still under this delusion….so far under that she was willing to kill him.
Did he want to rescue her again? He could use his Talent on her again….just to subdue her until she came out of Melkira’s spell….
But no. He couldn’t. Never again would he do that.
He was stuck with them.
The house was a three-storey log cabin, very large, settled in the middle of a snow-covered forest. Roone would come to find out that the nearest road was a mile away, and there was a large creek that wound its way along the border of the estate. The estate itself was several acres. Roone could see a stable from his window.
He quickly realized that he was being held prisoner. Gilla held his hand while Traveling, and upon arrival told him to go lie down. He had immediately obeyed--it somehow made sense to do it--and he selected the bedroom beneath the stairs. She came in later and touched his hand, told him to spend the night in ther
e.
The third time she came to him was when Roone realized she had a Talent, and she was using it to control him. On the second day she made him stay in his room, and although he paced, stir-crazy, and stared longingly out the window, hoping to see Nora’s face, he couldn’t fight the urge to stay inside by himself.
On the morning of the third day Gilla’s timing seemed to lapse, and he was able to escape into the kitchen. Everyone was eating, and jumped when they saw him.
Gilla got up, and he backed away, his heart racing.
“Please don’t,” he said desperately. “Please. I won’t hurt you….I won’t hurt anyone….don’t leave me alone in there….”
He never thought he would find himself begging Nora’s captors, but here he was.
Nora, who was at the counter with Melkira, let out a sigh. “Let him go, Gilla,” she said quietly. “We can’t keep him locked up like an animal.”
“It’s what he did to you,” Michael murmured darkly, and she flinched.
Roone felt a horrible stab of guilt. Yes, he had done that….but it had been for her own good….just until she realized she loved him, that Melkira was using her….
They were all using her, and he wanted to scream it from across the room.
But Nora was returning to her food, and everyone reluctantly followed suit. Roone stood there like an idiot, having no idea what to do, before deciding to take a seat at the table. Gabriel and his mate--Barry, Roone remembered--were sitting at the opposite end. They shot him repulsed looks, and got up and slouched off to the living room.
Roone sat there. Michael eyed him from the kitchen, his jaw working, and every so often Melkira and Gilla glanced at him too. Nora wouldn’t look at him.
His heart sank. God, it was like when he had been a child. He was disgusting, vile, something not worthy to share a seat with. They merely snuck glances at the little freak who could make people hurt.
But Roone shook himself. What did it matter if they didn’t like him? That was the point, wasn’t it? He wasn’t here for them; he was here for Nora. Just as soon as he could get a moment alone with her….they could talk; he could make her see sense….
But she went upstairs as soon as her plate was clean, and Roone deflated. He looked back at the counter, and found worried looks on Michael, Gilla and Melkira’s faces. Michael leaned in to murmur to Melkira when he caught Roone’s eye.
