Hero of the InBetween

by Erin Snihur

  “Let me go!”

  “Remain still, Elara!” Darius growls as I squirm and push against him with all my might.

  “No!”

  A soft, calming voice breaks through my resolve and into my mind, “WAKE UP, ELARA!”

  I squeeze my eyes shut as pain morphs from my chest and I once again am staring down at a shadowy sword sticking out of my chest. Chuckling from the shadows erupts all around me and I feel Darius’ hold on me disappear.

  Screaming out in pain, I feel my back arch as the pain intensifies and all goes black. The pain doesn’t stop until I wake up and when I do, it is to chaos.

  My eyes are blinking so rapidly at the room around me that I’m only seeing snapshots of the panic that’s going on around me. Gideon is on his cellphone yelling in another language to someone on the other line before hanging up and furiously pushing buttons.

  “The one time she doesn’t answer that blasted cell phone!” Gideon growls and I feel a slight pressure on my forehead that is keeping me from rising.

  My wide eyes meet the darkened sunglasses of Pascal who seems to be staring at me, but his mouth is moving. No words are coming out as his mouth moves.

  My voice is dry from the screaming and raspy as I whisper, “Pascal?”

  His name seems to bring both he and Gideon back to the present as Gideon strides over to the bed and stares down at me warily. Inwardly I snort, what is he so scared of? He’s the one who could snap my neck like a twig.

  “Elara? Is it really you?” Gideon asks and Pascal sends him the first ludicrous “duh” look I’d ever seen. I couldn’t stop the giggle that erupted from my lips, but the serious looks they both shoot me has me mellowing.

  Pascal slowly lowers his hand from my forehead and I immediately cool at the feel. I had been so warm. Then, my thoughts drift to the dreams I had just experienced. I shudder as I recall Darius’ face morphing away into darkness.

  “Where is Darius?” I ask as my eyes finally taking in the room. Only Gideon and Pascal are present with me. The room is warm and old. It has a rustic, medieval look to it. My eyes quickly scan the bottle of dark liquid in Gideon’s other hand.

  Great, an alcoholic angel.

  Both angels look at each other and Gideon sighs in exasperation. “He’s probably getting his ass handed to him by Ezekiel.”

  I gasp in shock and make to sit up, but Pascal quickly pushes me down as I protest, “I have to go to him. He might need my help.”

  Gideon snorts and plops down at the end of the big bed, taking a swig from his bottle before muttering, “You’re the one he needs help from.”

  “What?” I ask, but Gideon ignores me and Pascal speaks. It is then that I recognize his voice. He is the one to wake me up during my dream.

  “Remain calm, Elara. Darius will return shortly,” Pascal’s head cocks to one side, examining me through his dark glasses as if I’m some incredible thing.

  “How do you feel?” Pascal asks, curious.

  I take stock of my facilities and groan. Since Pascal removed his hand from my head, it has started to pound and my entire body ached.

  “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” I moan and flop back against the pillows before asking, “What happened?”

  Pascal murmurs softly, ignoring Gideon’s grunt of warning, “You engaged Tarnin in combat and were victorious.”

  I turn my eyes to Gideon in disbelief and the brawny angel rolls his eyes as he elaborates further, “You kicked his ass for being a piece of shit.”

  Shaking my head, I lean up on my shoulders and slowly move to sit against the bed’s headboard, “I don’t remember any of that.” My mind races as I try to recall the last thing I remembered.

  It dawns on me then, “I remember becoming angry, then nothing.”

  Gideon smirks, “Let’s just say his cell is no longer a cell, but a lovely sitting area that any demon could just walk right out of.”

  “I destroyed his cell? Did Tarnin escape?” I exclaim in panic and turn to Pascal who shakes his head.

  “Lucifer banished him to another cell, though it is highly unlikely he will be able to attempt an escape anytime soon due to his injuries.”

  Pascal is so automotive in his speaking that I shake my head in complete confusion.

  “I caused that much damage? How?” I ask, my eyes flitting to either angel who both look at me with a question in their eyes.

  It is Gideon who mutters first, “That’s what we would like to know.”

  Frustrated, I run my hand through my hair, “Where is Darius? I need to speak to him.”

  I am panicking. I feel like I am being consumed by the darkness all over again. No! Don’t let it take you, Elara. Think of Darius. Soon my breathing slows and Pascal leans in close to me, intrigue in his voice.

  “Was that a panic attack?” At my nod to his question, Pascal sits back in awe, “Fascinating.”

  I try to form a smile while Gideon rolls his eyes again at the way Pascal is acting. I let out a harsh laugh to try and ease my discomfort, “Not for me.”

  Gideon mutters something under his breath and stands, “I’m going to go find Darius. Maybe he can sort out this mess.”

  I watch Gideon leave and exhale. Pascal once again leans in close on the bed and seems to be staring at me inquisitively. Silence fills the room and it makes my skin crawl. I hate silence.

  “What is it, Pascal? You’re making me nervous,” I cross my arms and stare back at him in his eyes, hoping he can sense my frustration.

  “Tell me about your family,” He orders and then much to my disbelief he removes his sunglasses to reveal pale white eyes and black pupils.

  I am stunned. I’d never seen Pascal without his sunglasses and it warms my heart to know he feels comfortable removing them for me. I smile at him and shake my head in confusion, “Why?”

  “I am curious about mortals. All I see is through my visions. It would be nice to see through your words,” He mutters softly and I can’t help but smile further.

  “Okay. Well my parents died when I was young. Before they died, I had a great childhood. They were amazing parents. They left me a bit of money; so, when I returned from the InBetween, I decided to take advantage of it and wait for Darius to return,” I explain and cock my head to the side as he does the same thing.

  “Tell me more about your parents,” he asks.

  I sigh and lean my head back against the headboard, “What do you want to know?”

  “How did they meet?” he asks.

  I laugh and smile at him, “My mother used to love telling that story, much to my father’s embarrassment.”

  At Pascal’s confused look, I continue, “Well, you see my mother was a bit of a hippie back in the day. She believed in love and peace. Anyway, she was at this rally and she didn’t really want to be there, because she had been feeling really down for some reason. She claimed she felt this call from the universe to go to this rally. She met my father there. He was a bit of an odd duck amongst all the hippies because he was an investment guru and looked ridiculous and so out of place. He was wearing a suit and my mother used to tell me she thought he was so handsome and different. She claimed when she saw him the universe poured out this warmth and it spread all around her, like a hug. She knew he was the one.”

  I hugged myself at the memories. My father used to tease my mother mercilessly about that story as well. He claimed he had no idea why he’d been at the rally. He said he left work and just started walking. He didn’t stop until he saw my mother.

  Thinking back, I shudder as I recall Darius’ and my first encounter. I had been drawn to him that first day, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it. I blush at the thought and am thankful Pascal can’t see my face.

  “Fascinating. You’ve always known them to be your true parents?” he asks and leans in closer.

  When I go to ask him what the heck he’s talking about, Darius arrives at the doors of the room. I straighten, completely forgetting Pascal’s question and try to
get out of the bed; but Darius races over, beating me to it.

  He embraces me tightly in his arms and my nose fills with his smoky scent. I relax into his arms and ask, “Are you alright?”

  Darius chuckles and holds me closer, “How can you ask that when you were the one unconscious?”

  I pull back and blush as I look him over. His clothes are rumpled and his hair is sticking up in all directions. I slowly reach up and smooth it.

  “Out of habit, I guess,” Darius chuckles once more at my answer and places a soft kiss on my lips.

  At the clearing of a throat, I quickly pull away, much to Darius’ groan of frustration.

  Gideon and Ezekiel are standing before my bed. Ezekiel has a cut on his forehead and his clothes are also rumpled. I push Darius away and glare at him as I point out the cut.

  “Did you do that to Ezekiel?” I accuse as I glare at a sheepish looking Darius.

  “Why does it matter?” Darius grumbles.

  I turn to Ezekiel, apologetic, “Are you okay, Ezekiel?”

  Ezekiel nods and smiles softly, “Never better. I haven’t tussled with Darius in a while. It was good to catch up.”

  Gideon mutters under his breath as he goes to take a swig from his bottle, “Pansy.”

  Ezekiel ignores Gideon and takes a step closer to the bed as Darius settles himself on my other side, holding my hands in his.

  “How are you feeling?” Ezekiel asks. I’m completely floored by the question. Ezekiel has never shown an interest in my wellbeing.

  “Fine, I guess. A bit sore and my head hurts,” I admit as Ezekiel nods in understanding.

  “What happened to me?” I ask before they can speak.

  Ezekiel’s eyes turn to Pascal who has now placed his sunglasses back on, “Pascal?”

  “She does not recall the incident and when I inquired about her past, it was all very normal. Very mortal,” he says, completely at peace.

  I raise my brow in confusion at Darius, “Why would my past be anything but normal? Crazy things didn’t start happening until the InBetween.”

  Darius hesitates in answering. On the other side of the room, Gideon exhales in annoyance and takes the silent moment to ask the others, “Aren’t you going to tell her?”

  Darius shakes his head and squeezes my hand causing warmth to flood through them, “Elara, you used a regular angelic blade and destroyed a blessed cell. You also almost killed Tarnin. Not even an angel could take down a blessed cell with a regular blade and you would at least emerge with some injuries after taking on Tarnin alone.”

  All is silent as they allow me to take this in and I gaze at Darius in confusion before my eyes drift to the others, “I don’t remember that. I just remember being angry, then nothing.”

  Ezekiel nods and interrupts before Darius can say anything more, “It is believed that when you cut your hand to open the gates in the InBetween, the swords essence mixed with your blood and unlocked your dormant abilities.”

  I scoff and sit up straighter, “What dormant abilities?”

  Darius ignores my question and asks me one instead, his voice upset and serious all at the same time, “Elara, do you know if you were adopted?”

  I spin in the bed to fully face Darius and level him with a stare, “Of course not! My parents are my parents. You saw them!”

  Darius looks down at our joined hands before leveling me with sad eyes, “Do you know if they were your biological parents?”

  I gasp and pull out of his grasp, moving to stand on shaky legs, “Of course they were my real parents. I have a birth certificate. What is going on, Darius?”

  Darius sighs and helps me to stand, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders, “Lucifer is of the belief that you are the child of an Archangel.”

  His sentence has everyone freezing, including myself as I stare up at him in disbelief. I shake my head and back away from Darius as my mind races. It races to Lucifer’s statement earlier.

  Your makers were wise to hide you away as they did.

  It couldn’t be true. Could it? No! I’m mortal. Thousands of questions race through my mind as I try to process everything. My childhood had been normal. There had been no reason to believe any differently. A nagging thought poked me in the back of my mind.

  How were you able to see Darius on that first day when no one else could?

  I freeze and turn to stare at Darius and the others, “My father, he and I look nothing alike. It was a running joke in my family about how much I looked like my mother. It’s just a coincidence though, right?” I begin to shake and hug myself tightly in an effort to keep myself together.

  Darius strides forward and hugs me tightly as he whispers in my ear, “I will get to the bottom of this.”

  The doors to the bedroom open once more and I gaze from my place in Darius’ arms to see Dina and Lucifer walk into the room. Lucifer’s wings are unsettling. They are always displayed. A show of power, I suppose. Lucifer’s gaze swings from Dina to me and he instantly grins. He almost looks normal if it weren’t for the demonic wings jutting out of his back.

  “Good. You’re awake,” Lucifer greets and shifts an old book back and forth between his hands.

  Darius pushes me behind him, but I can still peek over his shoulder as I watch him growl at Lucifer in obvious dislike, “Now’s not a good time.”

  Lucifer shakes his head, “Clocks ticking, Keeper. If you want to find the sword before Elara here becomes consumed by her dormant abilities, then I suggest we get started.”

  “Get started with what?” I ask and step out from behind Darius’ back. My curiosity wins out, even though I’m completely floored by the fact that I might be the offspring of an Archangel. Would that make me Lucifer’s niece? Not the time.

  “Your training,” Lucifer grins evilly in my direction.

  Before I can respond, Darius hauls me once more behind him and protectively stands in front of me, “Not happening.”

  15

  Darius

  “Not happening.” I command and glare once more at Lucifer, who only mockingly rolls his eyes.

  I feel the tug of Elara removing herself from my grasp; and before I know it, my Little Moon is facing me, sending me sharp daggers with her eyes.

  “What do you mean, not happening? Since when do you make my decisions for me?” She asks, completely furious. At me? Why? Doesn’t she see how unsafe this whole situation is?

  I guess I’ll have to spell it out for her. “Don’t you see the danger you’re in? Tarnin knows something is up with you. He’s tasted your essence. He knows about your powers. Now more than ever his lackies will be looking for you and the sword, if they don’t already have the sword. They could use that to control you or even use you to do a lot of damage to anyone, even me.”

  Elara winces at my statements and steps back, “I would never hurt you…or…anyone else.”

  I feel the statement leaving my mouth before I can stop it, “You did once, who knows what you’ll do next.”

  I hear Dina gasp and Gideon whistle at my statement as Elara’s face goes deadly white before turning red with anger.

  I continue, “Forgive me, but this isn’t exactly your area of expertise. You allowed yourself to be tricked by Renna in the InBetween. Who knows what you’ll fall for next!”

  Sputtering, Elara shoots me one last glare before turning on her heel and making her way to Lucifer, who merely grins as Elara shouts over her shoulder, “The only stupid thing I could have done since the InBetween was believing you were different from some controlling, moronic idiot who cheated on me with my best friend.”

  “Let’s train, Lucifer,” she mumbles.

  Lucifer gives a little bow and extends his hand out the door, “This way. Pascal, if you’d please join us.”

  I watch in shock as she and Pascal disappear out of the room with that devious fallen angel, Lucifer.

  Growling, I grab the closest thing to me, which is a wooden chair sitting next to the window and throw it against the wal
l. Watching the chair shatter into a million splinters helped, but not enough.

  Gideon chuckles and pats me on the back as he approaches me from behind and extends the bottle, he was nursing out to me, “Women, eh?”

  Swiping the bottle from him, I take a swig and wince as the bitter liquid slides down my throat. The second pull from the bottle isn’t as bad as the liquid warms my insides. Turning to Ezekiel and Gideon, I’m shocked to see Dina is still present and looking bored with my dilemma.

  “I’m surprised you aren’t following the King of Hell around like a puppy,” I mutter, the liquor doing the talking for me. The King of Hell sure has strong stuff.

  Collapsing across from Dina in the couch, I watch as her anger flares up in her eyes before calming, “I’m not the one who needs to be worrying about my bed partner, brother.”

  Ezekiel and Gideon sit opposite us and Gideon steals back his bottle, much to my groaning protest.

  “I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe I threw all this shit back in her face.”

  Gideon laughs before taking a drink, “Dina and I are usually the hotheaded ones. I’m shocked.”

  Dina mutters softly, “You should apologize.”

  Ezekiel grunts and sends me a scathing look, “It’s too fast. You only just met this woman what, like seven Earth months ago and only spent thirty days with her. Clearly, you know nothing about her or you wouldn’t have angered her.”

  Shaking my head, I lean my head back, eyes closed, “Elara Greer, her name means little moon. Her parents used to call her that. She hated it at first, but I think she enjoys it when I call her that. It reminds her of happier times. She’s independent and strong. She’s used to being on her own for most of her life. She jumped around foster homes as a kid. Elara loves animals and is an amazing veterinarian until I stole her life from her. She loves the smell of lavender and I’ve grown to love that smell on her.”

  I laugh and continue knowing I sound like a hopeless sap, “She loves chocolate, romance books and movies. Hates cartoons, unless it’s a Disney franchise and recently lost her long-time boyfriend and best friend because I revealed their cheating and lying ways. Elara loves to help people. That’s why she opened those gates to the afterlife. She wanted to save the souls even after they turned their backs on her for choosing a life with me. She’s curious and sees the world in such a light that I’d become a dark cynic to. I can’t wait to learn more about her and I intend to. No matter how long it takes.”