by T. R. Hamby
Nora looked as if she was praying for patience. “Okay….Michael, you teach Roone how to fight. The rest of us will train.”
Michael tried not to bristle. The last thing he wanted to do was teach Roone Harrison how to fight. That was very involved. It required a relationship between the student and teacher. And that was the last thing Michael wanted with Roone.
But he had no choice.
After breakfast everyone went to their rooms to change--except for Roone, who had no other clothes, and Andreas and Mel, who went to talk in the study. Michael knew Mel was giving Andreas a rundown of Roone’s actions.
He dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and sweats. He wanted to be free to move while teaching Roone how to fight. Then he found similar attire in his bureau, as well as an extra pair of boots, and brought them downstairs.
Roone was still on the sofa, and looked mortified. “I can’t wear your clothes.”
“You can if I tell you to,” Michael shot back, dropping the pile in his lap. “You can’t fight in a sweater and jeans, so put those on.”
Roone looked mutinous, but left to change. When he emerged from his room Michael was satisfied; the shirt was a little big in the shoulders, but otherwise the clothes fit well.
Andreas and Mel left the study then, and Roone caught Andreas’ gaze. Andreas looked disgusted, and he followed Mel upstairs without breathing a word.
Roone looked down at his shoes, and Michael couldn’t help but feel a pang.
The group of eight finally left for the clearing. It was a cloudy day, with more snow in the forecast, and cold. The humans were wrapped up in coats, planning on shedding them once they got their blood flowing.
And so it began. Mel and Andreas began testing their Talents on each other. Gilla and Nora sparred, and Gabriel and Barry dueled with their swords.
Roone watched the six, looking almost lost.
Michael sighed. “Let’s work on your stance first. We’ll get to swords later.”
Roone nodded, and for the next hour Michael taught him how to throw a punch. It wasn’t much, but Roone had a good swing on him, and he was very good at ducking. He seemed heartened, and Michael taught him some combinations. Then they sparred. Michael parried and sent Roone, with some satisfaction, hard to the ground.
But Roone didn’t look defeated. He hauled himself back up and took position.
Michael couldn’t help but be impressed. There was some fight in Roone after all.
And he didn’t once look at Nora.
Barry
Training was really the only thing they could do to pass the time, so it often lasted for hours over the next few days. Barry usually worked with Gabriel, working on swords and knives. His fistfighting was a little rusty, so they started working on that too.
The two of them, and Gilla and Nora, started ganging up on each other, one versus three, in case the situation arose the next time they were attacked by the Demons. It was rough, and the three humans received many scrapes, but it was helpful.
Roone Harrison was an unwelcome addition. Michael was teaching him, slowly, how to fight, and made him spar with Gabriel and Barry to get a feel of fighting with others. Barry was more than happy to kick him to the ground at first….but as the training wore on, a small bit of pity arose in him. Roone was pathetic, but he had fight in him. Barry knew how that felt.
Mel and Andreas were frustrated. Their powers were taking a long time to strengthen. Mel could make fire flash out of his hands now, but it vanished a foot away. Andreas couldn’t even manipulate fire yet, no matter how hard he tried.
They have to use their anger, Them suddenly said, as Barry sat watching in the snow.
Gabriel was beside him, and noticed when he looked upwards.
“I’m not telling them that,” he replied warily. “They’ll burn me to a crisp.”
Tell Nora, she replied gently.
So he got up and trudged over to Gilla and Nora, who were rolling around in the snow, grappling with each other. “S’cuse me.”
They looked up. “What’s up, Barry?” Nora asked, letting Gilla collapse backwards.
Barry squatted down and said, quietly, “Them’s speaking to me. She says you should tell those two to focus on their anger….you know, to train.”
Nora looked intrigued, and nodded sadly. “Yeah. God knows they’re both angry.”
She got up and went to them, careful to avoid the flames Mel was aiming at a snowman. So far the snowmen had remained untouched.
The two listened, and immediately their faces darkened. Andreas shrugged bitterly, turning away, and Mel looked at him worriedly.
Andreas was hot and cold. Sometimes he was jovial, cracking jokes and speaking with them animatedly. Other times he was dark, brooding, unapproachable.
Barry could understand, in a way. Or maybe he couldn’t. He didn’t have a whole pack of family and friends he could never see again. He didn’t have a career he had lost, or a passion that had slipped away. If anything, his life had started the moment he had met the Kings. Andreas’ had become a ticking clock.
Barry helped Gilla to her feet, and together they looked over at Roone, who was several yards away, dueling with Michael. He was still learning, but was doing all right. Michael seemed optimistic.
Barry had noticed, in the past couple of days, that Michael’s harsh anger towards Roone was starting to fade. He was much more patient, and wasn’t rolling his eyes or swearing under his breath anymore. He was still rough when they fought, but Barry could tell that was for training purposes now, and not as an act of revenge.
Roone, in turn, was growing bolder, more confident. He had a long way to go, but he had come a long way too, and his newfound confidence was making him stronger.
Barry looked at Gilla, who was watching the two with an indecipherable look on her face. “He’s a good teacher.”
She smiled at him. “He is.”
She paused, then added, “He asked me to order him some clothes.”
Barry suddenly felt like an idiot. He hadn’t, not once, considered the fact that Roone only had one outfit. He supposed he had been laundering it at night, so no one would notice.
His pity for Roone grew stronger, and his anger faded just a little.
Fuck. It was difficult to stay furious with him, knowing that he had been sick, and seeing the way he was now. Full of regret. Was he really this evil Angel? It sounded as if God had been just as harsh to him as he had been to the rest of them.
He looked at Gilla. “How’s Nora?”
She folded her arms. “Better. Much better.”
“Good. Maybe we can be a happy family again.”
She smiled at his poor attempt at humor. “You’ve been busy. After training,” she said shrewdly.
He flushed. It was true. He had been flying around a lot, searching the estate and the nearby roads for bodies.
Samuel Gene’s death was haunting him. They both had had the same issues, the same illness. Barry knew all too well what he had been going through. It easily could have been him, traveling the streets of London, trying to get home to his mother before being murdered. How many times had he come close to being assaulted? Hell, how many times had he been mugged, left bloody in the street?
He had been saved, literally, by Angels. Samuel wasn’t so lucky.
“Is he with you?” he asked Them, and Gilla looked around, confused.
No, Them said gently. He wanted to be with his brother in Heaven.
Barry felt a pang. “So he’s happy.”
Very happy.
“Do you make the offer to everyone?”
There was a pause. Then, No. I would if I could….but I’m not omnipresent. I have my Valkyries who look, but there’s only so many of them, and there are so many people in the world.
“Why do you do it anyway?” Barry asked curiously.
Them sounded ashamed. I was selfish at first. I was lonely. I asked some people in Heaven to Ascend. It was just us for a while….and then we talked….we
decided there were others who would want to live here with me. Not everyone would want to go to Heaven. So they decided to be my Valkyries.
“Do they have powers like you?”
No. That’s just me.
And there was some guilt in her voice.
Barry was confused. “I don’t understand. Why you?”
I don’t want to say, she said firmly. I burden you enough sometimes. I made you keep from everyone that Andreas was coming.
Barry shrugged. “You didn’t know he would. And you knew Nora would be upset if she found out Andreas was dead, without being able to talk to him.”
She was quiet a moment, before replying, That’s true.
“Will Andreas and Mel be able to use their powers together?”
I hope so, she said anxiously. I don’t know if Talents can be strengthened, but I’m hoping they can.
Barry nodded. He looked at Roone again, who was, yet again, being kicked to the ground by Michael. He got back up, shook himself, and took position again. He hadn’t taken a break since they had started that morning.
Barry frowned. “What about Roone?”
Them was quiet again. Then she said, I’m not sure. When he’s in his room--I probably shouldn’t say--he practices his combinations, and he cries a lot. He seems very low when he’s not training. Sometimes he goes for walks at night, sits with the horses.
She paused, then continued, What he did to Nora was very wrong, and he knows that now. I think….he needs to forgive himself.
Barry absorbed this. Now he felt even more pity for Roone. After all, he knew what it was like to feel remorse. And like Nora had said….maybe he didn’t deserve to die.
Everyone except Roone, Michael, and Andreas finished up training for the day, and headed back to the house. Barry had a feeling that Roone--maybe desperate not to be alone--had insisted on training longer, and that Michael, pitying, had agreed. Andreas, suddenly brooding, had gone for a walk.
When they got back to the house they were surprised to find Kara Hudson waiting in the drive. There was a sharpness in her eyes that made Barry nervous. She had been eyeing him the last time she had been there, and she looked at him now, calmly--in a dangerous sort of way.
“I wonder if you could come down to the station?” she asked Barry, who immediately felt his heart drop.
“Why, exactly?” Nora demanded, so fierce that she nearly stepped in front of him.
Hudson considered her, her dark eyes glittering. “Just more questioning.”
“Not routine, I imagine,” Mel said, stepping closer to Barry too.
“It’s all right,” Barry said with a sigh. “Let her do her job.”
“I’ll drive over,” Mel said.
“I’m coming too,” Gabriel said firmly, shooting an incensed look at Hudson.
So Barry got into the cruiser.
“Seatbelt,” Hudson said as they began to drive.
Barry raised an eyebrow, but slung the seatbelt across his waist.
They drove in silence, and when they got to the station Hudson led him past a large room filled with cubicles, down a hallway, and into what was clearly an interrogation room.
He had never been in one of these before. He sat at the little table, blinking underneath the strong fluorescent lighting. The gash in his cheek ached. The room was cold, and he shivered.
Hudson left him alone for a long time--he assumed to make him sweat. He was nervous, and he reminded himself he was innocent. He hadn’t even found the body.
Finally she returned, with a colleague. They sat down, calm as could be. Hudson studied him, then showed him a picture of Samuel, laughing with some friends.
Barry wondered if any of those friends had ever supplied him with dope. It was often the case with him and his old friends.
“I told you he had a drug problem,” she said. “We spoke to his friends. He also dealt here and there.”
She then slid a paper across the table. Barry examined it: It was a copy of his criminal record, all the way from London.
“You didn’t tell me you spent time in jail,” she said quietly.
Barry looked at her. “You didn’t ask, ma’am.”
“You didn’t think it would be important information to share?”
“Honestly,” he replied dryly, “I try not to think about it at all.”
“Are you clean now?” she asked.
He nodded. “Almost two years.”
Her mouth slanted a little, and he could tell she was trying to guess whether he was lying or not. “Have you ever dealt?”
He felt himself flush. “A couple times. But that’s done. I’m done with all of it.”
“Admirable,” her colleague said sardonically.
Barry and Hudson ignored him.
“So say,” Hudson said, “that you came across Samuel somewhere.”
“I didn’t.”
“Say you did.”
Barry tried not to sigh.
“And he offered you something. Good price, maybe discounted for a new customer.”
“It isn’t a tire sale, you know,” Barry replied, raising an eyebrow.
She shrugged. “Would you take it?”
A horrible craving suddenly washed over him. He imagined some pills, or a fine powder, being offered to him by the youthful Samuel Gene. He took steadying breaths, balling his hands into fists underneath the table.
“No,” he said firmly.
Hudson studied him. On her right, her colleague looked doubtful.
“Hesitating is never a good sign,” he said.
Barry just shrugged. He focused on the picture of Samuel, looking so carefree. His arms were slung around his friends’ shoulders, a bright grin on his face. How long had he suffered?
Hudson seemed to read his mind. “It took a couple tries to kill him,” she said. “The hands tire, when strangling. So he suffered greatly.”
Barry looked away, his jaw working. His craving was still going strong, and he was desperate to get out of there, to fly high over the trees in the cold air.
“What are you thinking about?” Hudson asked, frowning.
Barry looked at her, and said, boldly, “I’m thinking of being an eagle.”
The two stared at him as if he had lost his wits.
Hudson blinked, and Barry could tell she wasn’t used to being stumped. “Is that a metaphor for something?”
“No,” he replied.
She glanced at the tattoo on his neck and nodded. “Right. A trick for your anxiety, maybe?”
Barry shrugged. He didn’t know where he was going with this, but it was amusing to watch her try to decipher his words.
“All right, enough with the games,” her colleague said firmly. “Did you meet Samuel Gene to purchase drugs?”
Barry rolled his eyes. “Of course I didn’t. What, I just walked across the creek, met him on Elle Road and scored something?”
“Stranger things have happened,” Hudson replied.
“It’s sixteen degrees outside. Why would I just wander around the estate?”
“You’re being evasive,” the colleague said. “It’s a yes or no question.”
“No,” he growled. “I’ve never met the bloke. Do I look like I could strangle a man with my bare hands?”
He looked between the two of them. “What, you think it was a deal gone wrong? Why would I steal from someone and then strangle them?”
“We’re asking the questions here,” Hudson said calmly, though she looked satisfied.
She waited a moment, while Barry glowered at them. Then she leaned back in her seat and asked, “Tell me about your family.”
“For christ’s sake,” Barry, and, oddly, her colleague, said at the same time.
“Kara, let it go,” the colleague said, but she ignored him.
Barry shrugged, exasperated. “We’re tight-knit, I s’pose. I don’t know what else you want from me.”
“What do you do all day in there?”
He cast around for a bel
ievable answer. “Mel and Michael….and Roone….they work on jewelry shit. I don’t know much about that. Gabriel helps sometimes….I spend some time with the horses, with Gilla and Nora.”
He knew Hudson could tell he was lying.
“Sounds very boring,” she replied.
Barry sighed. “It’s the quiet life for me.”
“Only until recently.”
“Yeah, it was very glamorous what I was up to before,” he replied dryly.
Hudson stared at him for a long moment. Then she nodded. “We’re done here.”
Barry relaxed, and followed her out the front doors.
“If you think of anything,” she said, shoving her hands in her coat pockets, “call me. Mr. King has my card.”
Barry gave her a withering look. “You’re looking in the wrong direction.”
“I don’t think any of you were involved,” she replied frankly.
“Then why did you question me?”
“Formality. My colleagues are suspicious of you.”
“Your colleagues don’t sound very bright.”
Hudson’s lips twitched. “It’s why I’m leading the investigation.”
Barry was surprised. “You’re quite young for that, aren’t you?”
She shrugged. “I’ll be leading for now, until they find someone less dumb and with more seniority.”
“Are you going to leave us alone, then?” Barry asked as Mel’s car pulled up.
She shrugged. “Until they replace me.”
“Lovely,” Barry replied dryly.
Hudson simply shrugged. “Stay safe, Mr. Barrett.”
Roone
Nora was in his arms, and they were talking quietly. Her brown eyes were bright, her head resting on his shoulder. They were in the cottage, lying in bed. It was warm; a breeze blew through the window, ruffled the sheets.
“Let’s get married,” she murmured.
Roone grinned. “You’re sure?”
She nodded firmly. “Yes. I mean it. I love you.”
His heart soared. She had said it again….she loved him….
Then he opened his eyes. He was alone, lying in his bed at the estate.
His insides turned cold, and he threw the pillow over his head. God. What had he done?
