Redeemed In Shadows

by Tigris Eden

  “But I’m hosting her baby?”

  Cyrian nodded and explained how the baby was taken as punishment, and that he was breaking laws by giving the soul to her. The child was supposed to be escorted to the Hall of Souls. She was the only one who could house the cub because she was a Host. Jes was not to know now or ever. Her feet planted firmly in the water she nodded. Enri circled her chair marking the ground with sea salt. Cyrian stepped out of the circle and whispering softly to the ball of light.

  Standing in front of her Enri expanded his scaly wings, lifting his head and starring directly up at the mirror.

  “I call forth those of warrior’s blood. Isaiah, Grey, Raziel, Uriel, and Castiel.”

  The mirror expanded outward, bulging until it looked beyond swollen and about to burst. The Angels she’d met back in Dravaggio’s War Room had returned. They were all dressed in the same fashion, even Uriel, the female, sword at her hip, looked official. Grey stepped up to her smiling wide showing Vampiri like teeth. He had fangs, functional fangs. Learned something new every day.

  “I told you I’d see you soon,” he said. His brothers and sister surrounded her as Grey stepped even closer. They began chanting a serious of phrases she couldn’t understand, but her body began to respond to. Like a tuning fork, her body vibrated until her teeth chattered. The water in the bucket became hotter and Xee looked down in shock as the water made its way up her calves, past her knees and covered her torso in a watery blanket. It continued to cover her in a constricting manner almost as if the water itself was a living breathing thing. Inside she wanted to scream, but did nothing because as the water continued to travel upwards it seeped into her mouth, her nose, her ears, even her eyes were covered. She could do nothing but try and hold her composure as she held her breath. Seconds became agonizing as her lungs burned. Someone was speaking to her from outside her watery grave but she couldn’t understand what it was they were saying. The sound muffled. Her limbs ached from the heaviness of her impending death, the water surrounded her completely now. Something was happening. She could feel the water in her chest, filing her lungs, and when she tried to gasp for air, it wasn’t there. Instead, her insides filled with water. Inside her head she was screaming, every fiber of her being was on fire as darkness descended quickly to wrap her in its ugly silence.

  She was dead, she was sure of it. Torturous screams could be heard all around her and razor sharp claws were piercing her skin as they tried to grab a hold of her. Darkness surrounded her on all sides. Her body began to relax as death beckoned her with open arms. She could feel the water evaporating. She could hear voices clearly now, and when she chanced a peek, she was back in the open room, still strapped to the chair, but soaked from the water. Unable to move, she slumped forward in the seat.

  “Now, repeat after me, I take thee light into my body, until such a time you are ready to leave, or I am in irreparable danger.” Cyrian said the words slow and clear so that she was able to hear them. With a scratchy voice, she repeated the words. The small flickering light that was Jes’ baby floated towards her, hovered for a few seconds before it entered her chest and rested next to the beat of her heart. Laughter and peace settled over her and filled Xee with so much happiness that she could only smile. It had to be the baby, because she clearly wasn’t this happy of a person, like ever.

  “Remember, you’re human. More so now than before, you had Micah protecting you and the baby isn’t strong enough for that yet. Take care of your body while the cub dwells inside. Right now, he is nothing but emotions and feelings. He won’t speak to you or influence you. You won’t even know he’s there.”

  “Are you saying that once the baby leaves, it doesn’t matter what I do with my human-ness?” She wasn’t important to the them if she didn’t have the cub, that’s what it sounded like he was saying.

  “I’m saying take care of your body. I’ll explain to the team about Micah and that you had no recollection of his plans to infiltrate the Unit.”

  Easy enough.

  Not.

  Dietrich wasn’t going to let any of what happened slide, and the twins, well she might as well pass on the cub to someone else now, they were going to have a field day with her. Gabe wasn’t talking to her, nor would he ever and she didn’t know if she was truly going to be okay with that. The only people she thought who’d be all right with her re-joining the team would be the Captain and possibly Jes and Belinda.

  Her hands were released, the blood rushing back into her limbs as she shook them free of the shooting pain. Her wrists were raw and red from the restraints. She looked to the Seraph Angels that still stood around her and tried to find a way to thank them, but couldn’t. When she finally opened her mouth to speak, they’d disappeared again.

  “Friendly, aren’t they.”

  “No more than me lovely, now leave, before I decided that I made a grave mistake.” The fallen, Enri said as she stepped out of the basin filled with water. Now when she looked at him he seemed normal. There were no wings, no fangs, just a man with facial features Adonis would kill for. Xee didn’t say anything more as she was escorted back into the holding area where Dravaggio and the others waited. They all looked at her in varying stages of disbelief, and disgust. Optical daggers were being thrown her way left and right. Jes hadn’t returned yet from where ever she’d been taken but everyone else was there. Including Gabe.

  Chapter 22

  His gut hurt and all the others did was look confused. It was do or die time. Soon he’d have to reveal his dirtiest deed. The door to their locked chambered opened and Ms. Hale was guided through. Her clothes were ripped and both the Captain and Dietrich looked at her in silence. The Walker was the first to speak.

  “You’re fully human now.” The other man said with disgust. Her shoulders were already slumped, but slumped further at his words. She was wrecked, and despite everything, all he wanted was to go to her and hold her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

  “I’m talking to you bitch, look at me when I’m talking to you,” Dietrich stepped forward and Gabe stepped in between his teammate and his intended target.

  “Leave her alone, look at her, she’s a mess.”

  Her head snapped up to scold him, tears rimming the edges of her eyes threatened to spill over. Her defiance and strength was still there, but barely. She directed her attention to Dietrich who still stared her down with death clearly on his mind.

  “That was all unnecessary,” her voice was so low, he barely heard her. “Completely unnecessary.

  “What.”

  She held out both wrists, showing her abrasions from the ropes. Her skin angry and red from the tiny blood vessels that had burst.

  “I’m new here, so I don’t expect forgiveness for my part in this, but I had no idea Micah was spying for the other side. The only thing I’m to blame for is naïveté for the last eight years. These,” she held up her wrists making sure the others could see. “Was uncalled for. I would have gladly surrendered. She dropped her hands to her sides and slid down the side of the wall, propping herself up on a knee and hanging her head forward.

  “I warned him. I warned you Kapua. Still you let this shit get out of hand. For that alone I should kill you but I won’t. I know what it’s like to be a puppet. To have your mobility taken from you.” The Walker turned his back. “Stay away from me human, you see me coming, go the opposite direction. Your weakness and frailty remind me why I don’t fuck with your kind.”

  She didn’t respond to his remark, but she did address Gabe.

  “You, don’t have to stick up for me. And I get it, you feel the same way as the rest of them. I’m not some clingy broad or anything, and despite what D thinks, I’m not frail. So I don’t need Death on his pale horse to come to my rescue. Just leave me the hell alone.”

  That was a statement that had way too many answers. She didn’t have a clue how he felt about the situation. There were equal amounts of relief, anger, l
ost, betrayal, and a strong sense of protectiveness wrapped tightly around the thing that beat in his chest for her. But he couldn’t tell her that. Instead, he walked to where she sat on the ground and pulled her into his arms. She struggled at first, but quickly deflated. She was on edge and at any moment she’d become numb and shut down completely. He needed to do something, at least try and talk to her, assure her that things would work out in the end. Dravaggio grunted at his actions. The Captain still thought he was doing the wrong thing, but Gabe wasn’t too sure about that. He’d fucked up, but he could make it right, help her understand why things were the way they were. Soon his longtime friend would despise him, the right thing to do would be to stay and talk to him. But he couldn’t, not with Xee in the shape she was in. Loyalties be damned. The truth was harsh and it would shine down on everyone. He had no fantasies about being forgiven. There was no other choice. He’d always choose her.

  After today, he would never see her again.

  Gabe bent at the knees scooping her up in his arms and walking towards the lock doors. He’d be granted this one last thing. He’d be allowed this gift.

  “Open the gate.”

  The door opened all on its own and one of the All Seeing Eye’s henchmen was there.

  “I want private quarters for me and the girl.”

  Dravaggio grabbed Gabe forcefully by the shoulder causing him to wince.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure she’s alright, but at the same time, being the selfish bastard I’m known for being. See you on the other side brother,” Gabe jerked his shoulder away and followed the guard down the corridor. He’d have her one last time and then he could take the memory of her with him to the Black Veil. She’d be his light, guiding him through the murky waters of death.

  

  Black was coming to terms with the inner struggle he’d been trying to grasp since waking up in fucked-up-land. The days of Draven Stone were still his memories and he knew them all to be true. What he didn’t like was that his mate was on the wrong team, that alone made her unappealing.

  Enri walked into their locked room with a wide grin on his face. He approached Black, standing to the side of him instead of in front. The Fallen knew the score, the two of them tolerated the other, and nothing more.

  “How’s about a wager.” Enri boasted.

  Black stepped away from the Fallen angel not sure what the other man was going to say.

  “Wager?”

  “Yes, you know where something is put up for shits and giggles.”

  “I know what it is. Tell me why this should even be of concern to me?”

  “Your mate Jesminda is on her way up to the arena. She is to settle a debt. One she originally wagered for your soul a few months back.”

  Enri grinned.

  “I allowed her time with you as Draven so she’d think she had you back, while all along, you were just hanging back, waiting to step back into the light.”

  He was waiting, but he had no clue it was because of this prick.

  “You find this funny?”

  “I do, and to think, you fucked her under false pretense, letting her believe you were true and free of your darker nature.”

  “Your point?”

  “Cyrian and the Elder Council rid her of your rotten seed,-“

  The other man didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Draven’s wolf made a fast introduction, coming to the surface and grabbing the other man by the neck, lifting him off his feet. The Angel coughed not caring he was in a chokehold. Enri tried laughing.

  “She. Is. Set. To. Square. Off…With…. Solon.” His voice choppy from the lack of oxygen due to Black’s strong grip.

  The wolf eased some of the pressure off the other man’s neck. She was strong, but he knew his mate would be weakened mentally by the loss of their cub. He tossed the other man to the other side of the room and tried to process what he was feeling. His wolf was more attuned to his feelings than the man was. Black fought against the pain and nausea rolling through him as two of his three parts warred with one another. A child he fathered as Draven was now gone. The woman Draven loved and he loathed because of the undeniable attraction, was in immense pain because of Enri. For reasons he couldn’t comprehend, or could, but refused to acknowledge, Black roared and charged the Fallen Enri again, kicking the Angel repeatedly in the rib cage until he heard bones crack and his lungs collapse. He tried dispelling the anger coursing through him by taking it out on the crumpled Angel on the ground but with no luck.

  Enri laughed hysterically as Black picked him up off the ground by the throat. His feet barely touching the floor as he was tossed again to the other side of the room.

  “You. Will. Take. Me. To. Her.” Black said through gritted teeth. Teeth that were now turning into long canines.

  The Fallen Angel looked up from his spot on the floor, twisting his neck from left to right before standing and dusting off his clothes.

  “Sure thing my friend. You can see her as she fights Solon, whether she survives or not, I’ll let you hold her even if she’s alive or a cold dead corpse. The wager has already been set. Jesminda lives, so will Draven, but if she dies, she’ll become a permanent fixture in my army of Death Walkers.

  

  She’d gone and cried herself to sleep. It had been years since she cried, and in front of an audience. She hated appearing weak in front of others. She’d vowed not to cry her last night at the institute, but her feelings and emotions had been so drained from her eviction of Micah. Xee felt a warm washcloth on her face and a soft humming in her ear. Was it the baby? Cyrian said the baby was only a bunch of feelings and emotions. Surely the baby was humming to her. The voice became clearer as the fog of unconsciousness lifted. Peeling her eyes open, she watched in a bleary haze as Gabe’s lips moved but she couldn’t make out the words. Scanning his face, she felt his hands as they moved over her now chilled skin. He was he wiping the rest of her body down. His actions were not in line with his earlier words and she wondered why that was. He was mean one minute, ignoring her completely, to nice and attentive the next. Xee was not able to reconcile one action from the other.

  The warmth from the cloth relaxed her tired bones. It wasn’t like she’d done a lot but the ordeal with the demon eviction had worked her over. Exorcism, Angel style she supposed. She took in her surroundings and realized she wasn’t in the enclosed room with the others, but in an open room. Images of the Goddess Isis and Benu were painted on the walls along with hieroglyphs describing some ritual or form of worship. A huge mural above her on the ceiling depicting oracle statues tucked away in their shrines while being carried on a sacred barge with gold inlayed into the cracks making the ceiling look lit up. Another wall showed a shower of jewel encrusted scarab beetles crawling down the side of a wall into two sarcophagi side by side hitching a ride with the inhabits to the other side. Wherever she was, it was fancy.

  “This is the chamber of forgotten loves,” Gabe whispered next to her head. He was kneeling beside the bed she lay on top of. A silk sheet barely covering her ankles.

  “How apt.” Xee said sarcastically while trying to sit up. Gabe’s eyes warmed as he placed a large hand on her stomach stopping her movement.

  “It’s rumored Imhotep brought his princess here in secret and loved her for hours. But really it was a place he came to forget how much he loved her, and it wasn’t Nefertiti’s daughter, Ankhesenamun, it was a priestess in the temple Philae named Khama’at. She was the daughter of a king who fled her father to worship at the Temple.”

  “And the purpose of this history lesson?”

  “I want you to forget us Xee, I want you to move on. There are so many other men to fixate on.”

  Fixate on?

  Fixate on?

  Was he nuts?

  She was not fixated on Gabriel the vain.

  Fixated was not the right word. More like obsessed. There she
was being a little bit honest. But she wasn’t going to admit that to him.

  Smirking, she turned her head in the direction of the ceiling doing a small eye roll, before giving the Angel her full attention.

  “Me, fixated, I don’t think so.”

  Grabbing her shoulders, Gabe pulled her out of the bed, his stare direct, angry. Standing on shaky legs, she took a step back, hoping to dial down some of the raw energy they were trading back and forth. But he followed, backing her into the wall next to the bed. His eyes alight with a harsh truth, letting her know he refused to be lied to.

  “Don’t lie to me, and don’t lie to yourself.”

  She definitely wasn’t lying to herself, but to him. Yes.

  Their foreheads touched as Gabe bent low speaking directly into her face, their noses pressed firmly together, their lips barely touching save for the exchange of breath that caressed her skin. Inside she was melting, on the outside she was feigning nonchalance.

  “Lying will do nothing but piss me off, and I want our last time together to be memorable.”

  Did he really think there was going to be a last time?

  Oh Fuck no!

  That was not what she wanted. Even if she craved it, it wasn’t going to happen. He was leaving, there was nothing left to do but part ways.

  “You’ve lost your mind if you think you can get a goodbye fuck out of me. I’m not some piece of ass, Angel Boy.” She pushed on his chest in an effort to escape his hold, but his body molded to her, his hard to her soft and she let out a deep breath before speaking again. “No Gabriel.” She whispered.

  “No?” His voice was deep, abrasive against her skin as he skimmed her face with the tip of his nose. “Why?”

  Torture, it was pure torture standing there with him.

  There were tons of reasons why the answer was and should be no. He was leaving. He didn’t have genuine feelings for her, and when the time came to have her back, he wasn’t there. Usually when shit went bad, Micah was there for her, and now he was gone. Like everyone else, he’d left. Granted it was not of his own free will, but she knew it was for the best. But what scared her most of all was that when she went to bed alone at night, it would be Gabe haunting her dreams, reminding her of all the things she could never have.