by Lori Aisling
That’s when reality backhanded me- again. Hanging on the peg next to the door was Death’s cape. It wasn’t Callon’s- although cut from the same dense cloth, this one was smaller. It was my size. I wanted to collapse, cry, and disappear inside my grief. This was the final piece of irrefutable proof that my love, my soulmate, was gone. The Beginning transferred his duties to his only beneficiary.
Just as Death once described, the pull to complete my obligations wasn’t one I could bargain with, or ignore. It was as involuntary as breathing. Feeling utterly void of any emotion, I was numb as I donned the cape, opened the door, and stepped in Death’s realm.
Leaning down to look into the watery eyes of the old man, trust and acceptance stared back at me. He lived his life, his body was old and tired; he was ready to go. I smiled at him and offered my hand. There were no arguments, questions, or concerns. His fingers were warm as they settled into my palm and I gave a reassuring squeeze as he rose from his bed. I would hold myself together for this kind soul, and for my love. I would make Callon proud and I refused to take away the peace this man deserved at his transition.
Turning to pass him to his guides, I tipped my head back, the hood of the cloak falling, exposing my features to the archangels that waited patiently. Shock and disbelief was mirrored on all three perfectly chiseled faces. Azrael, the angel of Death stared back at me, his jaw agape. Sadness and pity poured from Jeremiel’s gaze as he fought to maintain his composure in front of the passing soul. The third attendee was Sandy, and the freakishly tall angel struggled to look at me, his eyes filling with tears, as his shoulders slumped forward.
Azrael placed his hand on the man’s arm and a golden glow filled the room, peace and love saturating the air. The soul settled in a cocoon of tranquility, protected and unaware, his eyes closing as he rested. The angel of death took the moment to address the obvious catastrophic event.
“Amara, please don’t tell me this means what I fear it does.” The handsome angel’s eyes were wide as he processed the bombshell I just dropped into our reality.
My jaw clenched and I hardened my heart against the influx of emotion. I would never allow them to see me as weak. “As of right now, Az, it means nothing, do you hear me? I have no answers for you, but I will, I guarantee it.”
“He isn’t dead, he can’t be! His soul has not crossed and his name isn’t on the ledger. You are bonded with him, can’t you track him or something?”
“Our bond has been severed. The brand is intact, though, so I refuse to believe he is gone.” Fixing Jeremiel with an accusing stare, I spoke my vow. “A premeditated plan was put in place to remove him. I will find out the names of every Timeless involved and you will have more than enough powerful souls to juggle around as they suffer the unmeasurable torture of my vengeance.” My anger grew and the air in the small room crackled as power leaked from me, the moss-green glow trickling along the floorboards and pooling around my feet. “Your petty power struggle has come to an end. Callon placated all of you and your insufferable, spoiled attitudes for far too long. It’s clear to me now that in his unfailing devotion to maintain the correct power exchange, he became soft. He trusted all of you too much. Rest assured, I will not make the same mistake. There will be no forgiveness and I will grant no mercy in my search for him. You can spread this around, too. Should I find proof that my mate is dead, heaven and hell will be destroyed. I’ll slaughter every last one of you and dance in your blood.” I spoke the last sentence with venom, daring one of them to defy me. The fury coursing through my body eased the pain of my loss and I absorbed the malignancy, making it my own.
Three sets of surprised, wide eyes stared back at me. “You don’t mean that, Amara. You can’t. It’s not the design! What of the innocent souls?” Sandalphon questioned, his tie to the mortal realm from which he ascended was still precious to him, judging from his tone.
“Do I mean it? Absolutely. Never doubt me again. Can I? I don’t know, but it’s a sure bet that many will die screaming while I try. And the innocent souls? You should have left Callon in charge if that is your concern. You should have left us alone, nothing we did hurt anyone. In the endless quest for power, a line was crossed. If you are concerned about the future of your kingdom or your own worthless skins, then I suggest you make a choice on who to side with. The sooner I have answers, the safer you will be.”
“You can’t possibly be accusing the archangels of having anything to do with this! Are you mad? We are the Light, Amara. You should know better!” Azrael’s eyes pleaded with me, breaking contact to look at his brothers on either side of him. “Tell her! None amongst our ranks would challenge Callon and his duty to the souls.”
Sandy shuffled from one foot to the other, looking uncomfortable. “There are truths to what she says, Az. There is no way Callon could be removed from his duties by lesser demons, cherubim, or seraphim. Think about how much power it would take to overcome Death. It’s never even been mentioned, as the cost would be too steep to even contemplate. There must be higher-power Timeless involved in this.”
Jeremiel sighed, running both his hands through his long hair. “It has been mentioned, and that is where the problem starts. A friend and I overheard a plot to remove Callon. Truthfully, I didn’t think it was even possible and assumed it was idle chatter traveling through the war-mongering cherubim. Were there any inclination it would go farther, I would have taken my concerns directly to the Lord.”
“You and a ‘friend’?” Az asked sarcastically. “Who is this friend, and please tell us at what point you deemed this overheard plot innocent enough to stay quiet about? Callon is fucking gone, Jer! The Beginning’s perfect design for the counterbalance simply vanished and you stand here admitting knowledge of the plan, yet did nothing? Amara can kill us! You know this, right?” he yelled at his companion, the golden aura surrounding him and the sleeping, placated soul throbbing with the intensity of his emotion.
“I knew of the plan. However, by the time I was informed by Jeremiel and his ‘friend’, it was too late to do anything. Callon vanished at almost the same time. Which I find awfully convenient. He will attend to his duties, as will I. Once we have completed the reaping, and finished with our obligations, he will come to me, alone, in my realm and we will be having a discussion. Won’t we?” I dared Jeremiel to defy me, challenging him with a hard stare.
Staring into my eyes, I saw honesty and truth in the depths of his deep blue orbs. “Yes, Amara. Gladly. I know you don’t realize this now and you are consumed with grief, but Callon meant a lot to me. He was my friend, too. He was pure, and good. I am proud to stand beside you and aid you in any way to uncover this scheme.”
“I am glad to hear that, Jer, I truly am. Enough time has been wasted. We have a responsibility to these souls, let us complete our task.” I pulled the hood back over my head and without waiting for an answer, I let destiny deliver me to the next reaping.
Autopilot
Once I completed the responsibilities passed onto me by Death, I went immediately to the publishing house. Lynn, my administrative assistant, jumped to her feet the moment I walked through the door.
“Ms. Rush, oh, thank goodness! We were worried about you! I have left countless messages and so has Kyle! Is everything ok? I wanted to call the authorities, but that bulldog wouldn’t let me!”
“Everything is fine, Lynn. I will address all issues immediately. Please get Kyle on the phone and transfer it to my office.”
“Yes, ma’am. Would you like coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”
“I would appreciate that, thank you.”
Seated behind the large double monitors, I clicked the space bar on my computer and the screens lit up. There were well over one hundred unanswered emails marked priority in my box and the red light on my phone flashed the number ‘36’ alerting me to the quantity of voice messages needing attention.
The time issue was kind of a bitch here. When mortals say ‘time flies’, it truly does. Years passed in this
realm since my death, yet it was mere months ‘back home’. Although Callon was only missing for a day in my mind, the two of us were MIA for over a week according to the employees working for us.
Lynn entered my office and silently placed a mug of black coffee on my desk. Looking up at her, I saw the poor woman wringing her hands, looking quite distraught.
“Is there another issue, Lynn? What’s the matter?”
“I’m scared, Ms. Rush. Something isn’t...right. I don’t know how to explain it, but there have been weird things happening since you were last here. Strange men, odd occurrences. I have spoken with the chief of security about my concerns, and he has tripled the surveillance, but I feel like there is something ‘bad’ here. Please don’t be angry with me, I know you have something going on yourself, but it would be wrong of me to not let you know.”
Leaning back in my chair, I assessed the state of my normally rock-solid employee. She was frazzled- I could see it not only in her actions, but even in her appearance. Her clothing was wrinkled and her normally perfect up-do was slightly askew, fly-away strands of hair sticking out at all angles. She applied little makeup and what was there appeared to be remnants from yesterday. “When you say ‘strange men’, what do you mean by that?”
“That’s the problem, I don’t know! Four days ago, I unlocked the doors and on my way back to my desk, a man came out of the men’s room. Ms. Rush, he was not there when I got here. The alarm system showed no one entering the building, and I relocked the doors when I disarmed it because it wasn’t time to open yet. I came in early to finish up the responses to the queries you returned to me last week. You probably think I’m crazy, but Amara, that man just appeared. When I tried to speak to him, he looked at me as if he couldn’t understand what I was saying. His head kept tilting to one side, then the other, as he assessed me. It was creepy and abnormal. I pushed the alarm button on my desk to alert Kyle and his team, and he disappeared back into the men’s room. I stood right there, Ms. Rush, never looking away, I swear it! But when Kyle got here, there was no one in there! I thought maybe he was a transient, perhaps on drugs or mentally ill, but that does not explain how he could vanish into thin air!” Tears welled in her eyes and she continued to wring her hands as fear crossed her features. “That was the first instance I realized there was something really wrong, Ms. Rush. There have been others since!”
“She is speaking the truth, Amara.” I heard the door click shut and Kyle walked across the spacious office, his steps leaving not a sound. “I have pored over the surveillance cameras repeatedly. Lynn didn’t move from her location and that man never left the restroom. There is no way to leave that space other than through the damn door. There’s not even an air duct big enough for a human to shimmy into.”
The large man moved up next to Lynn and she leaned against him as she inhaled a stuttering breath. He rested his hand on her back and I got the distinct impression that his comforting of her was a little more than professional courtesy. They could both do worse, if that were the case. The bigger issue at hand was the Timeless showing up at my office building, not even attempting to sway the mortals around him.
“And you say there have been other similar instances?” I asked, looking at my head of security.
“Yes, numerous times, I’m afraid. The motion sensors go off repeatedly throughout the night and even though I can see the intruders on the screens, there is no one here when my team and I respond. I can show you, Amara. We have them dead to rights on the cameras, but not a single live body.”
“I don’t understand why we can’t call the police! Isn’t that their job?” Lynn screeched, her voice bordering on hysterical.
“Lynn, honey, I want you to take the rest of the day off, ok,” I cooed, attempting to calm her nerves. “Kyle and I will figure this out. I can see you need to rest and there is no reason for you to be suffering this kind of trauma for an hourly job. You will be paid, of course. Either Kyle or I will call you and keep you apprised. Go home, get some sleep, and binge some Netflix. Can you do that for me?”
“Are you sure? I feel terrible leaving you like this! There are so many emails and calls to address. I don’t want your business to suffer.”
“I am positive that the business will be fine. Your well-being is more important right now. Kyle, can you please escort Lynn home and return here as soon as you can?”
“I have a car right outside. I’ll walk her out and have him drive her home. I don’t plan on letting you out of pocket for any longer than that. You and Mr. Thead vanished on us and I need some help, along with answers before that happens again.”
Nodding at the couple, I focused on the computer screens as Kyle left the office, his arm around a very nervous Lynn. I hoped the questions Kyle had for me were ones I could answer. I was holding it together by a thin thread myself. I would not break down in front of that man.
He walked back into the office carrying a large file, overflowing with papers. “You gotta talk to me, Amara. I’m doing my best to adhere to Callon’s requests, but this surpasses everything he has thrown at me; and that’s a lot. I have worked for that man for over a decade.”
“I’ll do my best, Kyle. Mr. Thead is going to be unreachable for the unforeseeable future.” My voice caught and I disguised it with a cough. Saying those words tied my guts into a ball of sorrow and pain.
“I figured as much,” the man sighed and dropped the folder onto my desk. “This packet was delivered to my office by courier. The service used for the delivery has been untraceable. However, the law firm it originated in is very real and utilizing the tools granted to me by Mr. Thead, I was able to hack into their security system and witness the lawyer and him signing these papers. I don’t know what the hell is going on, Amara, but it appears that Callon has turned over all rights and legal ownership of Thead Enterprises and all its subsidiaries- to you.”
My breath left in a whoosh and I was unable to draw another. Tears flooded my vision and my throat tightened, the pain almost too much to bear.
“Talk to me, Ms. Rush. Let me help. What the fuck is going on? I know that man. He is the most reliable, honest, and true-to-form human I have ever known. He trusts no one. Except you. Judging from your reaction, you didn’t know of this new situation. Is Cal in trouble? And don’t tell me it’s coincidence the same time this bomb goes off, we start getting intruders in not just your building, but all of Thead Holdings. Something stinks, and I’m counting on you to help me take out the trash.”
I struggled to focus on his words, formulate a plan, fix this mess of catastrophic proportions, but my mind kept going back to Kyle’s first reveal. It proved one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt: Callon knew. My love suspected something nefarious was going to happen and he was taking steps to assure my success. But more than that, more valuable than all of his wealth was the shimmer of hope tickling at the edge of my subconscious: He was leaving me clues.
Gone Away
I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to figure out how much was safe to tell Kyle in order to guard Callon’s properties and utilize the man’s skills to get my hands on one of the Timeless that was brazen enough to breach my security and involve mortals in this deadly game. But there were so many things I couldn’t disclose.
“You are going to have to trust me when I say that I will tell you what I can. There are certain answers that I’m simply not able to give you. However, there is plenty that we can do together to try and get to the bottom of this mess and put an end to it. I have no idea why Callon would have signed his assets over to me. Perhaps he felt that would be the best way to safeguard his legacy- I wish I knew. I don’t want his wealth, Kyle, I want him.”
“I believe you, Amara. In all the years I have known Cal, I can honestly say I have never seen him as happy as he has been these last few years since you came into his life. Whatever is going on, we’ll figure it out and we will fix this.”
“This might sound like an odd request, but I need one of those trespassers.
I appreciate you adhering to Callon’s policy of not involving the local police, and we will continue with that modus operandi. I’ll be able to fill in a lot of the blanks when I can speak with one of them.”
“That is easier said than done, I’m afraid. To date, I still have not ascertained how these men are getting in, then out, of the buildings. Even with them in a room with no exits, they still avoid capture.”
“This is where that ‘trust issue’ we talked about is going to come into play, Kyle. Please don’t ask me to explain it to you, because I can’t. But the next time you see one of these invaders on camera, I need you to contact me immediately. I’ll try to make myself more available, so I’m easier to reach. Do not attempt to apprehend them and don’t let them know you are aware of their presence. I don’t care which property it is, or where. Just call me that instant.”
The muscle-bound bodyguard across from me scraped his fingernails through the 5 o’clock shadow on his face before fixing me with a hard look. “Jesus. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were Callon reincarnated. I recall a conversation with him that was almost verbatim to what you just said. I don’t know what the heck it is about you two, but I trust you, just as I trusted him. You have my loyalty and I’ll be by your side as long as I’m able. Now we need to move on to other ‘issues’. You need to contact Cal’s investment firm. His financial supervisor has a mile-high stack of papers for you to sign. I have already taken care of any potential ‘leaks’ to the press concerning our friend’s...sabbatical, so there is nothing to worry about, but his business dealings need to be managed.”