by Riley Hunt
“I can only remember the last twelve years.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “The Reavers told me some upgrade with Adam caused me an injury. I lost my memory but luckily not my life.”
“Adam went through an upgrade twelve years ago?” I chewed on my lower lip. They did most upgrades simultaneously, both Adam and Eve, and they were not often. But the last upgrade I knew of happened during the early 19th century.
“Apparently so, although I can’t remember it.”
“Is Helius doing unsanctioned upgrades?”
“Not according to the Reavers,” Vex answered. “From what I remember, this was a huge update, and even a couple of Angels came into Helius to help out.”
“Interesting,” I mumbled to myself. I threw the last of my bourbon back and enjoyed the sting as it traveled down my throat and warmed me from the inside. “Did you ever try to contact a Reaper or the DOD for more information?”
Vex didn’t say anything else. He was also deep in thought. His only interruption was when the bartender moved to fill my glass. I tipped my head in a thankful nod. Then I reached for the bowl of peanuts, sniffing one then placing it back as the heavy smell of nicotine clung to its nutty surface.
“There’s something wrong with Adam,” Vex blurted out before he tipped his cup and drained the glass in one gulp. “He’s erratic even for Helius, and that’s saying something.”
He tapped it again for the bartender but kept his gaze glued to the glass. My mouth gaped open once again, not just at his declaration but at the way he was so sure. Everything in the way he sat there screamed, “I know something, and I don’t know what to do.” His shoulders were tense and drawn into his body as if at any moment, he would bolt. The carefree, relaxed man who had coaxed me to take him with me was gone. It made me roll my shoulders and purse my lips as I thought about it.
“I suspect Eve is broken as well,” he muttered, and just like that, all the tension seeped out of his body, as if admitting the deep, dark secret had eased his anxiety.
Angels didn’t have anxiety. Helius, they didn’t get amnesia. His story didn’t make any damn sense, but the sincerity and concern that radiated off him were real. Even more interestingly… why did an agent of Helius even care? Fallen Angels cared only for themselves. Although angry and bitter about being thrown out of Heaven, resentment was their favorite emotion, yet this fallen Angel was deeply concerned about the machines that ran both of our otherworldly domains.
I thought about all my recent concerns. Souls were pushing the limits of Limbo and Purgatory, only just able to not step on one another in their goal to learn where their life had gone wrong. Helius.
The saintliest of them all, like Ghandi and those who had dedicated their lives to helping others, sat in purgatory, wondering what the Helius they had done wrong. I’d overheard whispers.
Even souls who hadn’t really done anything too terrible, other than maybe watching too much porn or cheating on their spouse, still went straight to the naughty place. Usually, they got a slap on the wrist and a, “Hey, that’s not cool. Straighten your shit up for next time. Here are your soul courses.” Instead, they were being tortured longer than necessary.
But Angels didn’t like to question the order of things. We followed instructions like good little soldiers. Even Reapers like me knew to keep our mouths shut and our heads down. You didn’t want to catch the attention of the upper office. You would find yourself transferred to a desk filing an eternity of paper. Probably blank paper. Its own form of heavenly Hell. Or unmade, if upper management was feeling particularly vengeful.
“So, you’ve seen it too,” he breathed, still leaning down and looking into his glass as if his thoughts were there. We could get drunk, but it would take far more alcohol than this to make us even a little inebriated. Vex ordered two more rounds of drinks.
I nodded curtly. My lips pursed together in a thin line as my eyes scanned the room. The only other people in the bar were the bartender and the old man staring at his cup as if it were his lost love. Both sides had spies. They turned up in odd places at odd times, ready and waiting to hear something, anything that would cause reprimand. Like secret shoppers. It wasn’t long before the bartender pushed the bourbon in front of us. This time I grabbed the glass and knocked back the drink without taking a breath. The bartender muttered underneath his breath about being impressed and refilled the glass without asking.
“So many things happen that we don’t understand.” I paused, meeting his eyes then flicking them to our silent audience for all but a moment’s breath. “But the Angels and Daemons keep telling us that it’s not our job to question it. This is our life, our eternity, and we can’t ask? It doesn’t feel like that’s the right thing.”
“That’s true.” He stared straight into my face, and those orbs of his seemed to break down whatever barrier I had. They were so beautiful. “I know that we’re dead, but we should still be treated fairly. If something is wrong, upper management needs to get off their asses and fix the problems. We didn’t die just to be pushed under the rug and forgotten about.”
“We have rights.” The words came out too loud. I looked around to see if I recognized anyone, but we seemed to be safe. Or at least I thought so.
“See, Helius scum and Reapers can have lots of things in common.” Vex chuckled, and the joyous sound washed over me.
“Especially when it comes to upper management.”
“Yeah, screw those guys.” Vex knocked back his drink. “Don’t even get me started on the Lords of Hell…or Helius. Greedy bastards just want power now that Lucifer is gone, and no one is around to control them.”
“That bad, huh?” I exclaimed. “Well…let me tell you about the Angels. Those bastards will unmake you for a teeny tiny mistake.” My lips made a puff sound. “Don’t they sound like the worst bosses?”
“Do you ever feel like you want to disappear from all of this? No souls? No Daemons, Lords or Angels? Away from all the politics and realms. And no threat of a vengeful God watching your every move.”
“Yes. All the time,” I admitted, and that was something I never did out loud. If any Angel heard me… I would be killed.
There was a brief, fleeting moment as I met the glowing emerald orbs in which something passed between us, something I couldn’t describe. A bit of lust, fear, denial. It was hard to pinpoint, so I went with the first one.
“What do you think about coming back to my place?” I leaned in, holding eye contact while lowering my voice to a soft caress. When I was close enough to whisper low enough that even Daemons or Angels couldn’t hear, I continued, “Let’s talk in private.”
Chapter Six
Vex
“Private, huh? You’ve already fallen for my dashing charm. I don’t blame you. I once made a banshee howl in such pleasure that she burst my eardrums. It took an entire month until I could hear accurately.” I downed the last drink and slammed a hand on the counter. Why was I helping Davos? He didn’t deserve any more souls. The greedy bastard. And it sounded like the Angels were no better. There was no point in ascending. Maybe I would stay in Limbo and see if I could live without gaining the attention of the Reapers. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about the sulfur smell.
“Oh, get over yourself. Sure, I’ll admit that you have some sort of scumbag charm, but that’s the least of our problems. I wouldn’t sleep with you even if you were the last man in all the realms.” Ana bent her head down to whisper in my ear. “I think we might attract a little too much attention, and I don’t want them to send me to the bad place for letting a hitchhiker follow me.”
I wanted to snap my fingers, but this wasn’t the time nor the place to gloat. I would do that when we weren’t in the presence of some suspicious holy pricks. I was certain enemies surrounded me. I just wanted to have a little fun with the strange situation they had placed me in.
What a day this had turned out to be. I had gotten a job, ditched it, and hitched a ride with a Reaper. Now, I was gettin
g drunk with her in Limbo. If I had any close friends, this would be the type of story I would like to tell them.
In the corner of my eye, I could see some patrons of the bar staring at me and whispering together. This was not a good sign. I needed to change out of the shabby clothes that were making me stick out like a sore thumb, but I wouldn’t leave without knocking back this bourbon. No Angel could stop me. I’d rather get into a fistfight than let this liquid gold go to waste. I grabbed the glass and washed it down, letting the soothing sensation slither down my throat.
Yep, that was the good stuff.
Ana looked at me impatiently. She raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the door. “Come on. We really need to get going.”
I cupped my hand over hers, which was dancing along the top of the countertop. “Relax. It should be fine.”
She jerked her hand away and wiped it on the side of her leg. I should’ve found it insulting but bugging her was way too easy.
“No, it won’t. I’m not arguing with you. I will not lose my wings over some scummy guy from Helius.”
“Not even a sexy scummy guy?” I waggled my eyebrows and pursed my lips together to blow her a kiss.
“No.”
“Come on. You need to loosen up and live a little dangerously.”
This was the perfect moment for the entire room to fall silent.
“Oops,” I whispered. “Someone is going to get into trouble.”
She sighed. “I’ve had enough of this banter.”
“New recruit. Freshly ascended.” She slammed down a handful of gold coins on the counter. That seemed to satisfy the curious onlookers as they went about their business. “That was a close call. Let’s leave before we have any more.”
I nodded, abandoning the glass on the counter. Ana hooked her arm within my own and dragged me out of the bar. Thankfully, when I looked behind no one was watching.
Chapter Seven
Ana
Reapers had the ability to open portals in Limbo. We were supposed to open them when management called or transported us to the location of our assignment. But we required privacy to travel away from prying eyes and curious souls. I followed the edge of the building to a seedy back alley. My eyes closed as my mind focused on summoning a door to my apartment.
There was nothing magical about the process, no bright light or anything interesting. They were almost always some regular looking door, like ones you’d find on Earth. No one really knew how the Angels summoned them—or at least they didn’t want to explain it us lower levels—but, like everything else in the realms, they glitched.
You know those stories where stairs show up in the middle of the woods and at the end, there’s a door? Those stories are real. Anomalies happen from time to time. For some unknown reason they always happen in deep wooded areas, . Once a mortal goes through these doors, something bad almost always happens.
Usually, kids are the curious ones to climb the stairs, then they end up in some cold tundra and die of exposure. It accounts for a ton of child disappearance cases and unexplained deaths.
My lips rolled as the silence in the air thickened and the portal took its sweet time arriving. I shifted uncomfortably as Vex stood too close and the heat from his body once again warmed me. A time-worn door that was once black but now closer to grey with a copper handle appeared before us. Finally.
I tried to move back, but Vex seemed to glue himself closer to my side, putting his arm around me as we walked through the door and entered my apartment.
Just as I turned to smack him, he cupped his hands on both of my shoulders, his lips just inches from my own. A quick jab to his ribs stopped any sensual kiss that was about to come, and an oomph escaped his lips.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I gasped in shock and pulled away as far as I could. The back of my hand automatically wiped the edge of my mouth, even though he didn’t manage to touch it. The brazen balls of this so-called man were enormous. I was risking my very existence for him, and he assumed this was some sort of booty call?
Vex’s black eyebrows crumpled, and a wave of disappointed flashed across his face. “I thought… well, you said we should talk privately.” He cleared his throat. “You know… you wanted to…”
He rubbed the area I had slammed my elbow into. I hadn’t been easy and knew that it would probably bruise. Angels, even fallen ones, weren’t easy to injure, unless they were hit by one of their own kind. Mortals couldn’t hurt us, and weapons couldn’t kill us unless they had forged the weapon in the light of Heaven itself, but we still bruised and still bled.
“You thought wrong, dumb ass.”
“Wow. I thought Angels were all pure holier-than-thou and stuff.” His jaw clenched. He was trying hard to make it appear as though my hit wasn’t bothering him as much as it was. “You know… no swearing or any of those fun things.”
“Most are, but then there’s me. I’m not your typical Angel.” I shrugged and backed up a distance, not letting my back turn from him for long. I had trust issues, but at least I could admit it. Even though we had spent the last couple of hours together, I wasn’t sure if I could fully trust him.
“I’ve heard that line before.” He watched me warily from across the studio apartment as he ran a hand over a side table covered in magazines. “Look at me. I’m not like other girls. I’m edgy and only wear black.” Vex waggled his pierced tongue at me, and I was one step away from ripping the ring out.
“And I’m going to kick your ass,” I warned, but all he did was laugh. Thankfully that made him stop talking for a minute. I swore the man enjoyed the sound of his voice more than anything else in the realms. We were safe for the time being and no one could overhear the conversation. My apartment held Angel sigils in each corner to prevent any unexpected guests. This was my safe space. No Angels or Daemons… except for whatever the hell Vex was.
The furnishing was sparse and simple. I wasn’t here all the time, so making it more than just possibly cozy didn’t seem practical. But I still owned a few cherished possessions, like the black velvet couch, knitted plant hangers with cacti, and all my music. The records scattered in the corner near the player on the bookshelf caught his attention.
“So, let me guess, you’re a classic rock fan?” he asked fast and forced, his shoulders rigid. “To be honest, I’m a little surprised.”
“At what?”
“I thought you’d be into death metal. Seeing as you’re… you. Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, CCR… I’m impressed.”
“How do you know about those bands?” I asked. I didn’t think someone like Vex would’ve recognized anything in my apartment. But maybe that was my Helius prejudice speaking.
“I like collecting things from Earth.” Vex said. “It is hard as hell to find authentic stuff but when it comes up in the market, I’ll trade for it.”
“Trade… what?” I hesitated, not a hundred percent sure that I wanted to know the answer.
“Anythin’ I can get my hands on. A skull from a sinner, werewolf claws… I even managed to get a hold of a feather from an Angel.” Vex grinned. “All legit… of course. It takes a lot of power to open a portal from Helius to Earth. And barely anyone can do it anymore.”
“The dead should stay dead, and Earth doesn’t need any Daemons running around.”
“There are a lot worse things on Earth than Daemons,” Vex retorted.
I nodded but curiosity got the better of me. “So, what do you think is wrong with Adam?”
He turned slowly, leveling his emerald eyes on mine. A brief flicker of something crossed his face, but it was so out of character that it changed his features completely. The untroubled goofiness of him was gone, and something almost sinister had been there in the tilt of his lips, yet it disappeared so quickly I thought I had to have been mistaken. My defenses rose once again.
“I’m not sure exactly.” He shook his dark head as his eyes left mine to glance down at the floor. Only he now looked distant, worried. “But there i
s a little voice inside of me that says that it’s something corrupt, and the Lords being panicked about souls is the first bad sign.”
“How would you know?”
“I was supposed to hitch a ride with you and grab a soul.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because we need to find out what’s happening to the realms.” Vex scowled.
“Why are you so insistent on figuring this out?” I demanded to know.
“We’re both immortal and have nothing better to do.”
I sighed and decided my trust issues had made me tense. The micro-expression was just my overactive mind doing what it did best: fucking stuff up.
Chapter Eight
Vex
I smoothed down the side of my hair. I needed to distract Ana from the stunt I had just pulled. Damn. I thought she really was into me, but I guessed I was wrong. My intuition was getting rusty, or I was losing my magic touch with ladies. Either way, it was best to push the attempted kiss out of my mind and focus.
“How hard would it be to get into the operating room for Eve?” I asked. “That’s the only way we can find out if there’s something wrong. We need to see them with our own eyes.”
Ana crossed her arms in an attempt of rebellion. “We can’t do that. They’ll catch us, rip my wings, and banish you from all the realms. Or something worse.” That was the moment that I knew she feared the Angels. Scared of being unmade. They weren’t lenient to their own kind. Not like the Reavers suggested they were. Those Angel bastards can get away with anything, Davos claimed, but he was so very wrong.
I grumbled. There was no other choice in the matter, and I had a nagging feeling that this was the right thing to do. “Then it’s settled. We need to go back to Helius and see Adam.”