by T. R. Hamby
“Yeah….I figured,” he said slowly. “They’re too interested in your Talent to worry about your fighting.”
“They might start teaching me soon.”
Roone shrugged.
Andreas shrugged too. “They might put us together. Our skill level is probably equal.”
Roone snorted. “I doubt that.”
“I thought we were even when we fought last week.”
Roone flushed. “I guess I should apologize for that.”
Andreas smiled. “I won’t if you don’t.”
Roone frowned, and suddenly looked at him. He studied him, and Andreas could guess what he was thinking--why was Andreas being so kind? Should they keep talking? Or should Roone kick him out?
He waited, while Roone turned his befuddled gaze back to the ceiling.
He didn’t know why he was being kind. Maybe it was because he felt sorry for Roone. He had done terrible things, yes, but he had been unwell, and now clearly regretted it. He was alone, a pariah. He barely got a kind word from anyone.
And maybe he didn’t deserve it anymore.
But maybe it wasn’t just about Roone. Andreas thought of his family again, and he felt a pain so intense he was certain, for a moment, that he was having heart trouble.
He made a noise, and Roone looked at him, concerned. “What--are you--what’s wrong?”
Andreas brushed at his eyes. “God. Nothing. Sorry.”
But he was getting out of bed. “I’ll get Mel.”
“No, it’s all right. Really. I’m a doctor.”
Roone paused, hesitating, before slowly getting back into bed.
“Although,” Andreas continued, sitting up, “I am dead, so I suppose it’s moot.”
He looked at Roone, whose lips were twitching. They shared a grin, and then a chuckle.
“What kind of doctor?” Roone asked curiously.
“Neurosurgeon.”
“You look too young to be a neurosurgeon.”
Andreas shrugged. “I’m thirty-eight….or, I was.”
“I often thought about becoming a doctor. I was only going to buy passing grades, though.”
“Ah,” Andreas replied, amused. “You would be a….what’s the English word….a cheater.”
“A rich cheater.”
They went on like this for a while, making small talk about this and that. Slowly they both relaxed, lost their inhibitions, and just talked.
“So how long have you been trapped in this room?” Andreas asked.
He was slipping his clothes on. It was four in the morning, and they needed to sleep.
Roone was still lying in bed. He shrugged. “Two or three weeks now.”
“Why don’t you come out?”
Roone raised an eyebrow at him, sadness in his eyes. “You know why.”
Andreas shrugged. “They can’t punish you forever.”
“I deserve it.”
“You don’t,” he said firmly. “You were ill.”
Roone looked at him, stunned. Then he looked away, clearing his throat.
“How could I be?” he breathed. “All those years….and how many other women have I hurt the same way?”
Andreas felt a pang. “Just sleep on it. It’s not hurting anyone to come out for some breakfast. Instead of sitting on the sofa like a robot.”
And he stooped down and kissed his cheek. “Good night.”
Roone looked at him. He looked….grateful.
“Good night,” he said. “I’ll….see you.”
“Tonight,” Andreas said, easing open the door.
Roone’s lips twitched. “Tonight.”
Gabriel
It was morning, and Gabriel was still in bed, waking up. He and Barry had been up late fooling around, and now the clock said eight.
He opened his eyes and groaned. Barry, who was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, shot him a glance over his shoulder.
“What is it, love?”
“Too early.”
When Barry didn’t reply, he asked, “How are you up so early?”
“I was hungry, so I went out, and then I was dirty, so I took a shower.”
Gabriel couldn’t help but smile, sadly, at his snark. Barry had been in a brooding mood ever since Samuel Gene’s body had been identified. They had had the same troubles, and it was hitting Barry hard. Now there was another body, and how much did they want to bet it had been a man in a similar situation?
It wasn’t just that, though. Gabriel checked the date on his phone--it was Barry’s birthday. He had firmly warned Gabriel, ahead of time, not to mention it, and Gabriel had wondered why. Angels didn’t have birthdays--they didn’t even have a calendar. But Gabriel knew humans tended to enjoy the attention a birthday brought. Barry winced at the mere mention of his.
Gabriel got out of bed and approached Barry, slipping his arms around his waist while Barry fussed with the wound on his cheek. Although Mel had taken the stitches out, it was still a nasty cut, running from his cheekbone to his jaw. It wouldn’t scar well.
Barry melted slightly in Gabriel’s arms, and leaned against him. “Sorry,” he sighed, “I know I’m being a prick.”
“You’re not. I understand.”
“It’s just….it could’ve been me, you know?”
“I know.”
They had discussed it many times, and it made Gabriel grateful that Barry was in a much better place now. With him, in his arms.
He squeezed him, looking at him in the mirror, and he winked.
“We look good like this,” Gabriel murmured, kissing his neck.
“Yeah,” Barry replied, “especially me.”
“Oh, sure--Frankenstein.”
“You’re supposed to be nice to me now that I’m disfigured.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, letting him go. “Disfigured. My ass.”
They got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast--and for tea, in Barry’s case.
It was a bustling morning. Everyone seemed to be animated today, except for Andreas, who looked a little tired.
Gabriel wound up sitting next to him, setting a plate piled with waffles on the table. “Didn’t sleep well?”
Andreas looked a little embarrassed. “Not very well, no.”
He looked a little brooding, too, and not for the first time Gabriel wondered what was going on in his head. He imagined it was the loss of his family, a topic that made Gabriel feel sick.
Then his father sat on his other side--Barry was across the table, talking quietly with Nora.
Gabriel looked at Michael, and waited for his usual, “Are you all--”
“I’m all right, Mica,” he replied patiently. “If there was something wrong, I’d tell you. You know that.”
Michael sighed, picking at his waffle. “Right.”
He had been overly attentive to Gabriel for weeks, ever since they had all learned that Father wanted him dead. It was almost bizarre--Michael had nearly been in tears when he had held him in Ireland. He had said “I love you.” Gabriel didn’t think Michael had ever said that to him before.
All of this--hiding in Nova Scotia, training every day, Michael’s worrying--was all because of him, and it made Gabriel angry.
It was all fucked.
He sighed, and pushed his plate away. He was never hungry, being an Angel, and only ate for the taste. But now he wasn’t interested anymore, and leaned moodily on the table instead.
He looked around. Nora was squeezing Barry’s arm, clearly soothing him. Mel was watching them, worried. Gilla was speaking with Andreas in Swedish, a language Gabriel didn’t know. And Michael had given up on eating too, and was watching Gilla admiringly.
Gabriel ground his teeth together, pissed at how worried they all were, how distracted.
He suddenly got an idea, and looked at Nora.
“I’ve never heard you sing,” he said, loud enough to carry over everyone’s conversation.
They quieted, and Nora looked at him, surprised. “You’ve heard m
e here and there,” she replied, puzzled.
“Not really. I haven’t heard either of you.”
And he glanced at Gilla, who turned pink.
The two women looked at each other.
Nora hesitated, flustered, and asked, “What do you want to hear?”
“Sing that one you two did together,” Michael said, surprising everyone. “Before our wedding--the duet.”
Gabriel smiled, and they looked at Nora and Gilla, who looked at each other again.
“Okay,” Nora said, flushed, and she began.
It was gorgeous. Gabriel could see why the two of them had had such successful careers. At first they were both shy, embarrassed, but then they grew bold; their voices grew stronger, and everyone was entranced.
When the two finished there was applause. Both were flushed and grinning, and they looked at each other brightly. Mel kissed Nora on the cheek. Barry caught Gabriel’s eye, and there was such love in his eyes that Gabriel’s heart leapt.
Andreas looked cheered. “Our precious ladies,” he said tenderly.
“Yes,” Mel murmured, “very precious.”
Just then they heard a noise, and looked around. Roone’s door was opening, and out he came, dressed and looking nervous. His face was red, and he walked resolutely into the kitchen, avoiding everyone’s gaze. Andreas shifted in his chair.
There were some attempts at restarting the conversation as Roone grabbed a plate and loaded it with eggs and bacon. But mostly everyone stared, and it didn’t seem to help Roone’s nerves. His hands shook slightly, and as he headed to the table he dropped his plate.
It smashed, and he swore.
In a flash Andreas was out of his chair, stooping down and beginning to pick up the broken pieces. Roone stood there for a moment, looking pained, before getting on his knees and helping.
“Sorry,” Gabriel heard him murmur, to which Andreas replied, “Don’t worry.”
There was such kindness in his voice that Gabriel felt a pang, and without thinking he got up too. He retrieved a sponge from the sink, got down with them and started mopping up the food splattered on the floor. Roone’s hands shook, and Gabriel felt another pang.
They had been punishing him this whole time….so much so that he couldn’t even help himself to breakfast without shaking like a leaf. Had they been monsters?
Suddenly another pair of hands entered the cleanup. It was Gilla, with a dustpan. She collected the pieces of broken plate Andreas and Roone had gathered, and then dusted up the rest, while Gabriel continued to mop up the rest of the food.
Andreas helped Roone stand. “Sit down.”
“I should--”
“No,” Andreas said firmly, “sit down. We’ll get you something else.”
And he plopped Roone in a chair, right at the table.
Gabriel finished up with the mess, rinsing the sponge out in the sink. Roone looked horribly uncomfortable, sitting rigid in his chair and avoiding everyone’s gaze.
Across from him were Nora and Mel. Mel whispered to Nora, raising out of his chair and urging her to come with him. But she shook her head, and pulled him back down. She looked firm, though she avoided looking in Roone’s direction.
Gabriel and Andreas returned to the table, Andreas bearing a fresh plate of food. Roone accepted it somewhat reluctantly, but once the plate was in front of him he couldn’t seem to resist, and began to eat.
Gabriel sat beside Barry, who seemed eager to let Roone eat in peace. “Let’s go sledding today.”
Mel did a double-take. “Sledding?”
“Yeah. Why not? Never done it before. There’s a decent hill just past the clearing. No trees.”
“I haven’t been sledding since I was a little girl,” Gilla said.
She looked at Andreas, a bright grin on her face. “We used to sled together.”
Andreas nodded, murmured something in Swedish, and she laughed.
“I’ve never been sledding before either,” Gabriel said, glancing from Michael to Mel. “There’s no snow Up There.”
“Neither have I, but I always wanted to,” Nora said brightly. “Let’s do it.”
“We have to train,” Mel said doubtfully.
“We can take a break for an hour or two,” she replied, giving him a look. “Come on; it’ll be fun.”
Mel and Michael looked doubtful, but eventually agreed. Gabriel was intrigued, and after breakfast the six set off, with Roone trailing behind like a lost puppy.
Barry took Gabriel’s hand and squeezed. “That was good of you,” he said quietly, his blue eyes bright despite the cloudy day.
Gabriel shrugged, frowning. “Maybe it’s time to cut him some slack.”
“Maybe….”
Gabriel tutted, conflicted. “I know what he did to Nora….but I also know he was sick. And it’s not like he’s being a dick about it. He’s pathetic.”
Barry nodded thoughtfully. “I did bad things when I was using. I mean, I didn’t do what he did….but I wasn’t delusional. I knew what I was doing was wrong. And I got lucky. No one treats me like shit anymore.”
Gabriel felt a pang, imagining what it must have been like for Barry when he had been living on the streets. He never talked about it. Maybe one day he would.
They were quiet a moment, slowly approaching the hill, when Gabriel whispered, “He can’t get close to Nora, though.”
“No,” Barry said firmly, “definitely not.”
They didn’t have sleds, but that was all right. There were large scraps of tin that had been left over when the roof had been redone.
Gilla and Andreas went first. He held her waist as the makeshift sled dipped downward, and Gilla shrieked as they slid through the snow. Everyone, except for Michael and Roone, laughed. Michael looked nervous, and Roone was sitting a ways away, watching quietly.
Gabriel and Barry, both having never sledded before, went next, and it was much more fun than Gabriel had expected. The two of them whooped, careening through the snow, and crashed into a tree at the bottom of the hill. The tree nearly split in two, and they laughed, shook themselves, and dragged the tin sled back up the hill.
They kept it up for much longer than planned. Nora threw a snowball at Mel, and a fight broke out, snow being tossed this way and that. Michael and Mel ended up cornered, the other five ganging up on them, and they laughed, ducked, and laughed some more.
“Hey!” Roone’s voice finally cried, and everyone paused, looking around.
He was standing, and beside him was Kara Hudson, looking very much intrigued.
The mood instantly shifted, and everyone dropped the snow in their hands and approached.
Gabriel was nervous; he didn’t like the almost triumphant look in Hudson’s eyes.
When they were finally close enough, she looked at Roone. “What are we doing out here today?” she asked quietly.
Roone looked confused, and shuffled his feet. “Nothing.”
“You walked through the snow all this way?” Mel asked, annoyed. “We’re nearly a mile from the house. You can’t enter the property without permission.”
“I heard screaming,” she replied, unimpressed. “I had to make sure no one was in distress.”
“You heard us playing,” Nora said angrily.
She shrugged.
“Why are you here?” Barry asked calmly.
Hudson raised an eyebrow, that triumphant look still on her face. “I have three things. One,” and she looked at Roone, “you speak English. Perfect English.”
Roone went pale, and everyone froze.
Shit. Gabriel, and apparently everyone else, had forgotten Roone was supposed to be Swedish.
“Two,” Hudson continued, “you have a new member in your little coven, which you neglected to tell me about.”
Andreas looked at her coldly.
“And, finally,” she said, looking at Barry, “I know it was you who called in the tip about the other body.”
“How?” Barry exclaimed.
“I
had a feeling,” she replied. “My feelings are usually right.”
There was a silence.
Hudson looked at each of them, as if scanning them for lies. “Who wants to answer my questions?”
Gabriel glanced around. He had no idea what to do, and no one--not even Mel--seemed to either.
Finally Barry said, “Honestly, you don’t want to know.”
Hudson didn’t seem to like that. “It’s important to the investigation.”
“It’s not, and you know it,” Barry shot back firmly. “Are your colleagues still even interested in me? Or are you here of your own accord?”
She went slightly pink. “I’m still leading the investigation--”
“For now,” Barry interjected.
“--I haven’t ruled any of you out entirely. And now I’ve caught you in at least one lie,” and she glanced at Roone.
She looked at them all. “So. Again, who wants to answer my questions?”
There was a long pause. Then, before anyone could stop him, Barry moved.
He took off, sprinting through the snow, toward Hudson, who took a step back. Then he burst into flight, transforming easily into a large, golden eagle.
“Goddammit, Barry!” Mel hissed, as they all watched the eagle gain height.
It soared over the trees, wings long and glorious. It did a couple circles, the tips of its wings brushing the trees’ branches, before swooping over them. Then it landed, and in a rush, turned back into a human Barry, with a couple miniscule feathers stuck in his hair.
Hudson stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. It was the most emotion Gabriel had ever seen on her face. Everyone stayed quite still, including Barry, who was still crouched in the snow.
Mel rounded on him. “You could have let Gilla use her Talent on her,” he said angrily.
“Hold on, Mel,” Gilla said, still gazing at the frozen Hudson. “I wasn’t even thinking of doing that. I hardly use my Talents.”
“It needed to be done,” Barry said firmly, standing. “It’s the only way.”
Gabriel wasn’t sure he agreed, but it was done now. They looked at Hudson again, who was now shaking her head.
“It’s not possible,” she breathed, tears in her eyes. “It was a trick. A magic trick.”
Nora approached her, holding out a hand, but she backed away, breathing heavily. Then she turned on her heel, and strode through the snow, presumably back to her car.
