The Bringer

by Jennifer Park

She turned and snarled at him, “I don’t need your help.”

  “And if this doesn’t work?” he said pushing off from the tree.

  “We’ve still got the sister,” she reminded him over her shoulder.

  “Remember, the Master wants the Bringer alive. Her blood is essential to his plans,” Raymond said walking farther into the trees.

  “I know. That’s why I want to take her alone. That kid she’s with has potential. He’s smart,” Jessica said to herself.

  She could feel them drawing closer. She moved farther into the forest behind a large outcropping of granite. The spell had to be something simple. Something to draw them to her and then separate them.

  Chapter 47

  The sky had cleared and Brynn’s feeling of doom was starting to lift. She was riding on the back of a motorcycle with the wind in her hair and her arms wrapped around a gorgeous boy. She had no reason to feel bad, except for a kidnapped sister and demons but she could ignore that for the moment and just enjoy the present. And it seemed the present was making her nauseous, or something she ate wasn’t happy, because suddenly she felt like she was going to throw-up.

  “Pull off. Quick!” she shouted at Jerom. He started and turned his head slightly to speak into her ear.

  “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

  “I don’t feel so good. I need a minute. Pull over, soon, PLEASE,” she really didn’t want to explain the intimate details of what she was feeling.

  He slowed gently and pulled over to the side of the road.

  “I’ll be back in a minute, just stay here,” she instructed rather forcefully as she walked into the woods. Her stomach was roiling, but she kept walking until she felt like he couldn’t see her. She figured it was too soon in their relationship for him to think it’s romantic to hold her hair while she puked. The pain in her belly hit her so intensely that it brought her to her knees and after her stomach emptied itself, she crawled away several feet and lay over on her side waiting for the pain to subside. She so did not want Jerom to find her like this. She needed mints, mouthwash, a toothbrush and toothpaste, all of which were in the backpack that Jerom had. She tried to figure out a way to sneak into the backpack before he got close enough to smell her breath.

  “Brynn, get up! I can feel her, Miranda’s close.”

  “Are you sure, Jerom?” she sat up so quickly the world went spinning for a moment.

  “Totally sure. Come on hurry!”

  She stood up, a little unsteadily, and started to follow. “Shouldn’t we sneak up on them or something? Make a plan? Wouldn’t it be better to be a little quiet?”

  “We don’t have time. I can feel her right over here. It’ll be fine, really. I know what I’m doing.”

  She started to follow him.

  “Brynn! Wait!” She heard from behind her. She turned and there was another Jerom, running full out and shouting to her. She turned and looked in front of her and there was the first Jerom. Stunned, she stopped moving and tried to figure out what was going on. Maybe she was sicker than she thought and she was seeing double, although she wasn't sure it was seeing double if one person is in one place and the other is in a totally different place. Maybe she hit her head when she bent over to throw up and this was the result. She must be really out of it to be this confused.

  The Jerom behind her and the Jerom in front of her were running at each other now. The behind her Jerom stopped, braced himself and pushed out with his hands, just as the in front of her Jerom released a red ball of energy right at the behind her Jerom. The in front of her Jerom was shoved, really hard by what seemed like nothing, into a tree which stunned him for a second. The behind her Jerom seemed to be enveloped by a red crackling aura of energy. She’d seen the real Jerom shove someone with his power, but she’d never seen him throw an energy grenade, so she ran over to the in front of her Jerom and hit him really, really hard. She threw all her strength behind the punch along with all her pent-up anger, grief and frustration. His head slammed into the tree behind him and he was knocked out. The Jerom she just hit seemed to waver a bit and then the illusion faded and lying slumped against the tree was really Jessica. She remembered her angel calling her Jessica. She would have recognized her anywhere. She made quite an impression on Brynn after she totaled Jerom’s car.

  “Are you okay?” Jerom rushed toward her, the energy bomb having dissipated when she knocked Jessica out, but before she could answer she felt a blast of hot air and then she was swept up into the air by an unseen force.

  She noticed the smell first. It was a burning rubber, decaying flesh, stomach-churning smell that made her want to throw up again. Then she felt claws tearing at her flesh and burning her arms where the demon was gripping her.

  “Jerom!” she shouted, kicking and jerking to get free. The ground was quickly receding beneath her and she started to panic.

  “You will not take her!” Jerom shouted and she saw him motion as if hurling something at them. Then she saw a huge fallen tree lift from the ground and rush toward them. The demon turned, flapping its wings to gain altitude, when the tree careened into its back.

  The force was amazing. She felt like someone punched her from behind and knocked all the air out of her. The flyer lost its hold on her and she bounced off a tree and landed on a rather prickly bush that broke her fall. Rolling over she got to her feet coughing out the foulness she’d had to ingest into her lungs.

  When she looked up the demon was flying straight at Jerom. She immediately thought of her angel and prayed that he would come this time. She closed her eyes and focused all her energy on calling her angel. The image of him sprang to her mind and she tried to virtually fill him into it. She pictured every feather of his wings, the soft touch of them brushing against her skin. She could see his smile and the way she felt like everything would work out when he was around.

  Then she could actually feel him. She opened her eyes and he was standing in front of Jerom, shielding him, wings outstretched. He was like a pillar of marble. The demon stopped his descent, backpedaling in the air to get away from her angel.

  “Go! Run to Brynn, protect her,” Calden yelled over his shoulder to Jerom as his wings pushed downward and lifted him from the ground. Jerom, half bent over like he was avoiding the backwash from helicopter blades, ran to her. Brynn flung herself at Jerom wrapping her arms around his neck and sinking into his chest. He pulled her to the ground and pressed his face into her hair.

  “Are you okay?” she demanded before she started running her hands over him, checking for anything that might be wrong.

  “I’m fine. I’m more worried about you,” He gently brushed over the burns and bruises on her upper arms.

  “I'm good. Just a little scorched.”

  “I was so stupid to let you go into the woods by yourself. It’s all my fault, I almost got you killed.” There were tears in his eyes and she couldn’t stand that he felt guilty in the slightest. She hugged him tight, trying to express all her thoughts through bodily contact.

  “You’ve saved me more times than I count,” and then she almost kissed him, but she remembered just in time that she had just thrown up, so she pulled away. He looked a little confused but just turned toward the angel and the demon.

  Chapter 48

  Calden and the demon were circling each other about fifteen feet off the ground. It was a study in opposites. The demon, so dark, radiating fear, claws clenching and flexing like it couldn’t wait to sink them into the angel. Its wings were bat-like, flapping fast with quick short strokes, working hard to stay airborne.

  Calden, on the other hand, seemed to almost float, his wings softly caressing the air to stay aloft. He looked so serene and it was hard for Brynn to not look only at him. His very essence spoke of calm and peace, yet at the same time he emanated strength and certainty, like he already knew the outcome of this battle.

  Jerom drew Brynn back within the shelter of a large tree and they huddled together as they watched them. Jerom was so cl
ose his breath made her hair move. Brynn was soaked with sweat and her body started to ache. She guessed the adrenaline was wearing off and she was starting to feel all the abuse she had taken. It hurt to touch her arms where the demon gripped her, so she held them away from her body. Jerom lightly rubbed his hand across her back soothing her.

  The demon struck first, spitting something foul across the distance. Calden pushed himself to the side through the air and the glob of disgusting filth landed in the dirt, hissing as it cooled on the ground.

  Then Calden drew his sword out of thin air. The blade flashed and shimmered in the sunlight. The demon flew backward just a bit, in hesitation.

  Calden flew forward and slashed across the abdomen of the demon, but the demon twisted and jerked away without getting struck. The demon then spun, using his tail as a weapon, trying to slash or stab at the angel. Brynn wanted to turn away, but felt disloyal. She felt the need to be a witness for Calden’s sake.

  Calden again struck out with his sword. The demon blocked the angel’s sword with his arm and the sword scraped against the rock hard skin but did no real damage.

  The demon wrapped his arms around Calden, pinning his sword. The flyer brought its legs up and used its claws to rake him.

  Calden put his hand on the demon’s chest. His hand started to glow incredibly brightly. The demon struggled, wanting to let go but not wanting the angel to get away.

  Finally, the demon couldn’t take it anymore and he pushed the angel away, clutching the wound on its chest.

  This left an opening for Calden and he slashed once more across the demon’s lower chest. The angel had found its soft spot. The sword bit in.

  The demon buckled over and fell from the sky. The angel followed him down. The demon croaked out, “We will have her. We will win,” and the flyer stopped moving. Its wings crumpled in on themselves and it seemed smaller somehow.

  Brynn ran to Calden as soon as he touched down. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her back. His wings encircled her, the feathers settled gently across and around her. She never wanted to leave this soft cocoon of protection. She raised her face to look at him.

  “Thank you. You can’t know how grateful I am that you’re here.”

  “You’ve had quite the adventures without me.”

  “I called. I did. Didn’t you hear me?” she sounded like a little child, but after what they’d been through she didn't care.

  “I wanted to come. There is nothing more I want to do but protect you and fight all your battles for you. I’m not allowed though. I was restrained. There were some things about yourself you needed to learn. You’ll need them later,” he said so earnestly and sweetly it made her tear up.

  “I guess I see your point. The water and earth spirits are pretty cool.”

  He laughed, “Yes, they are pretty cool.”

  He lifted his head and looked away toward Jessica. “Jessica seems to be stirring. I’d better go deal with her first and then let’s see what I can do about your various pains.”

  “Does that mean I have to let you go?” she asked, smiling.

  “Well, it might make it easier if you do, but Jerom probably wouldn’t mind it if you held onto him for a minute or two.”

  She reluctantly pulled herself away from him. “Did you see Jerom throw that huge tree at us? He’s pretty incredible.”

  “He is. I only wanted the best to take care of my Bringer.”

  She watched Calden walk, practically glide over to Jessica, then she turned and made her way back to Jerom.

  “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen,” he said as she walked up.

  “I know, wasn’t it?”

  “What’s he like?” He motioned to Calden with his chin.

  “His feathers are like the softest thing you can think of, but at the same time, he just radiates strength. He’s…kind. I thought seeing an angel would make you feel all unworthy or something, but he makes me feel all loved and accepted, like it’s okay just to be me.”

  They watched him as he gently helped Jessica from the ground. He ran his hands over her and they started to glow again, but this time they healed instead of wounded. Jessica looked up into his face and for a moment the hardness and anger left her expression. She was really quite beautiful. But it lasted only a second and she was all angles and stiffness again. Calden talked to her so quietly they couldn’t hear what he was saying. She jerked away from him angrily and stalked back to the road. Calden’s face fell and they could feel that he hurt for her.

  Jerom and Brynn walked over to him, slowly, mostly because it hurt them so much to move. He fluffed his feathers, kind of shook them, as they walked up. He absently picked little bits of blackish red out of the downy whiteness as he watched Jessica walk away, but then turned to greet them as they walked up.

  “How are you both?” he asked with such a gentleness to his voice she could almost forget what just happened, almost. “Actually, you both look like you could use a little help. If you will permit me, I will lay my hands on you and see if I can’t ease your hurts a bit.”

  He turned to Brynn first, brushing his hand against the curve of her cheek and then lightly laying his hands on her arms over the burns. He closed his eyes and started to glow, not just his hands glowing this time, but all of him. Not so bright that Brynn couldn't look at him, just a beautiful golden shimmer. She felt a coolness suffuse her burns where he was touching her and a tingling throughout her body as if her blood was rushing to his command. The shimmer surrounding him faded and he opened his eyes, looked directly at her and said, “How’s that?”

  Brynn looked over her arms and the burns and bruises had vanished. She felt light and cool.

  “Great. You’re great. I feel perfect, just a little hungry.”

  Jerom, knowing her voracious appetite, just smiled.

  “Good. You should feel hungry. I used your own energy to help heal you. That tends to use up a lot of your natural reserves.”

  He turned to look at Jerom and then placed a hand on his arm and a hand on his chest. He closed his eyes and the shimmery glow started again. Jerom sucked in a breath as if he was startled, but then relaxed. Calden’s glow released and he opened his eyes and asked, “Better?” Jerom just nodded at him.

  “I strengthened your shoulder from the car accident. You shouldn’t have any more problems with it.”

  “Thanks, I mean really, I feel much better. Um, thank you.”

  Brynn was charmed that Jerom was so seriously nervous, he was usually so confident, instead of this rambling boy beside her.

  “Why don’t we sit down and you two can eat something. We have a lot to talk about, starting with your sister.”

  Jerom ran back to the bike and grabbed his backpack and they settled down under a tree. Brynn was happily munching away before she thought to ask Calden if he was hungry. He laughed, not just chuckled like he usually did, and told them that food wasn’t really necessary for him, but thanks.

  “Can you help us get my sister back?” Jerom asked between bites of candy bar.

  “I can. I know where she is. We need to be careful though. This is absolutely going to be an ambush, which isn’t a problem, because we’ll be ready for it, but we don’t want to run in there without some kind of a plan,” Calden said.

  She felt like she was in some sort of secret war planning meeting. Jerom and Calden talked the next hour or so and came up with several plans and discarded most of them, but finally they had a good idea of what to do. Of course, even the best plans usually fall apart in execution, so Brynn wasn't really sure what they’d accomplished, but Calden and Jerom seemed very pleased with themselves.

  “Okay, Brynn, can you call Mathius to us please? “ Calden asked very seriously.

  “Um, who’s Mathius?”

  “He’s another angel who is going to help us.”

  “Well, if one angel is good, two is going to be great.”

  She focused in and he actually came right away. Either he
was waiting for her call or having a name to use helped, she didn’t know, but she was glad he was there. Mathius had that same angelic feel as Calden, you totally knew he was an angel as soon as you saw him, but he had black hair and he was bigger. Maybe he and Calden were friends. Not that she knew anything about angel relationships, but they greeted each other with hugs and back pounding, just like human guys did. Mathius took a second to look Calden over and then placed his hands on Calden’s chest. The long open wounds that the flyer inflicted on him closed up and Calden breathed out a sigh.

  He smacked Mathius on the shoulder in kind of a thank you and then he introduced Mathius to them and Mathius bowed in Brynn’s direction.

  “It’s a pleasure, Bringer,” he said to her, which made her blush---just a little.

  “Thank you for coming to our aid, Mathius.” She felt the need to be very formal.

  “I’m so glad you called. I really didn’t want to miss out on this fight,” he added looking at Calden. Calden nodded his head excitedly in agreement. Brynn almost thought they would high-five or something.

  Mathius turned back to Brynn and Jerom, “Miranda is being held at a quarry northeast of us. It won’t take too long to get there since we’ll be flying,” he told them with a smile.

  “Fly…um, I know you guys can fly, but we can’t. Are we supposed to follow you on the bike? Did we go over this in the planning stage and I just didn’t notice? I think I would have noticed if we had talked about flying.”

  Brynn was rambling and she finally had to just clamp her lips shut to stop.

  “No, we didn’t talk about it, but we should have. Brynn, I’ll take you, and Mathius will carry Jerom.”

  “Have you done this before? Because, I’m not really great at flying, I get airsick, and I would really hate to have that happen, you know? I just ate. Why didn’t you stop me from eating?” Jerom put his arm around her and squeezed. It was his polite way of telling her to shut up.

  “I promise I’ll get you there in one piece and you might just like it. I don’t want you to get airsick either, so I’ll fly very smoothly, no bumps,” Calden said as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Are you ready?”