by Brian Fuller
Helo grabbed the broom from the corner by the cabinet and pushed on the edge of the tile. As soon as it came loose, a black strap dropped down. Helo pulled on it, and a black duffel bag hit the floor with a dusty thud.
“Look inside,” Dolorem said.
Helo knelt and unzipped it, finding it bursting with cash. “Wait a minute! All that scrimping . . . the peanut jar with almost nothing in it. All this time you were loaded?”
“It’s not a savings if you spend it,” Dolorem said. “I was hoping to expand someday, make a franchise out of the Redemption Motorcycle Club. Just never happened. Money’s yours now. No strings attached.”
“Thanks, Dolorem,” Helo said, finding the Old Master’s face troubled. “What is it?”
“I can’t believe I am about to say this for the second time.”
“What?”
“You should leave Aclima in Goliath’s care and join back up with the Ash Angel Organization.”
Helo was stunned. Dolorem telling him to go back to the Ash Angels? “Why? They’d probably lock me up or send me off to shuffle papers with the Scholus after what Goliath and I pulled.”
Dolorem shook his head. “No. The fact of the matter is they can’t afford to do that. Aclima’s filled me in on all the crazy things you can do. There hasn’t been an Ash Angel like you for hundreds of years, maybe ever.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Hear me out, okay? This isn’t easy for me to say because I think the AAO is misguided in so many ways. The point is, there are still Loremasters out there. There is a crazy powerful Sheid still running around. You know I’m all about Ash Angels not focusing on killing Dreads, but an Ash Angel who isn’t affected by desecration or torching? An Ash Angel who can kill Shedim with his bare hands and shoot holy fire? You were made to battle darkness. You’ve got one more year. Working with the Ash Angels is your best chance to make a difference with your gifts.”
A suspicion dawned in Helo’s mind. “Magdelene called you, didn’t she?”
“You’re smarter than you look,” Dolorem said, hauling himself out of the chair. He crossed to the metal filing cabinet and yanked it open. “Yes. She called to make a ‘discreet’ inquiry. She assured me that if you came back to the AAO now, you wouldn’t be taken out of the field.”
Fear stabbed Helo’s heart. “Are they going to show up here? I’ve got to get Aclima out.”
“Calm down,” Dolorem said, flipping through a manila folder. “She asked me to call if you showed up. Wanted to talk to you directly. But I didn’t do it. And I won’t. Ah, here it is.” He yanked out a piece of paper.
“Look,” Helo said. “I’ll think about what you said, but the darkness I want to fight is what’s in Aclima’s heart. We can get her back.”
Dolorem nodded, folding the paper in thirds and sticking it in an envelope. “I understand. I wish I had more time. I could help her, I think. She cares for you. That may be the redeeming emotion you’re looking for. You remember my sermon on loving your enemies?”
“Yep,” Helo said.
“Really?” Dolorem said. “You listen to sermons about as well as you give them. Do you remember the point?”
“Yeah. You said the Bible only mentions loving yourself in two places, when the Lord says to love thy neighbor as thyself and when He says to love your enemies. We are our own worst enemy.”
“Very good,” Dolorem said. “That is Aclima’s problem. She can’t love herself. You help her create memories of doing good, show her things about herself she can love, and I think you’ll get her back. It’s like the parable of the sower in reverse. Plant good seeds in her heart to choke out the bad.”
“Makes sense,” Helo said, moving toward the door. “We should probably—”
Dolorem grabbed his arm. “But listen carefully, Helo,” he said, lowering his voice. “The AAO and Aclima are right. Even as an Ash Angel she is a threat to be turned back to a Dread Loremaster. If you help her become an Ash Angel again, you’re going to want to hang on to her, make her yours. You can’t do that. You’ve got to let her go like she wants. It’s best for her, and it’s best for the world. I know it sucks, but it has to be done.”
An ache settled in Helo’s heart. It did suck, and he didn’t know if he could do it. He shoved his feelings aside. They would cross that bridge when they got there. For now, he would devote what short time he had left as an Ash Angel to filling her heart with as much joy as he could until her red aura disappeared.
Dolorem slapped the envelope in his hand. “These are the organizations I was talking about. You head back to the ladies, and I’ll grab us some cold sodas. We’ll have a quick drink, then we need to take a trip to the river. My time is almost here.”
Chapter 40
Dawn
The sun’s rays bled into the sky, a blush of blue and pink above the horizon heralding a sun ready to burst forth into a new day. Helo dismounted the Goldwing motorcycle Aclima had stolen for her trip to the Redemption Motorcycle Club. She had driven while he sat on the back watching the empty desert landscape slip by, a blue shadow to either side of him.
They had followed Dolorem down a dusty gravel road that would have tested the fortitude of any four-wheeled vehicle and was only passable on two by some rather expert maneuvering around ruts, washboards, and rocks rounding out of the dirt.
Goliath, carrying two sheathed katanas on her lap, sat behind Dolorem as he navigated something barely distinguishable as a trail in the dim light. Aclima followed them, as adept at driving motorcycles as she was at driving cars. A short distance away, the Gila River murmured in the predawn calm, a promise of life and peace in a tortured, dry landscape.
Helo wondered if the secluded place had some special meaning to Dolorem or how he knew about it. They stopped at the water’s edge and parked the bikes. The river wasn’t wide here, just a ribbon cutting through hard dirt and rock. Dawn would arrive in a few minutes and Dolorem would ascend, becoming an angel like Cassandra. But something was off, and it was the katanas that had Helo wondering.
Dolorem beckoned them down to the water’s edge and stood with his back to the river.
“Thank you all for coming,” Dolorem said. “I had wanted to ascend inside the Redemption Motorcycle Club where I have done so much of God’s work, but after what happened to my beautiful Tela, I have changed my mind. First, Goliath, give the katana with the plain scabbard to Aclima.”
Goliath nodded and handed it over.
“Aclima,” Dolorem said, “that is yours now, but it is not for you to use, unless you want to teach Helo here a thing or two. I give it to you in hopes you will follow my example when the time comes. Helo, take the other katana and follow me into the water.”
Helo knew what he was doing now and wasn’t sure how he felt about it. But if it was Dolorem’s wish, he would do it without argument. Goliath handed him the katana, an ornate piece with Japanese kanji inscribed on the side of the scabbard. He slipped the blade from the scabbard and handed the scabbard to Goliath.
“That katana is not for you,” Dolorem said as Helo stepped into the cool water. “That is for my Tela when you awaken her. Teach her how to use it.”
“We don’t know for sure her death was sacrificial,” Helo said as he waded out until he was hip deep next to Dolorem, finding he had to fight against the current.
“It was,” Dolorem said.
“How do you know?”
“A father knows, Helo,” he said, tapping his nose. “I didn’t receive a vision of her troubles of late because she wasn’t meant to be saved from them. Can’t you see? God sent me to you, made you who you are, so you could teach her and make her strong now that I am gone. This blade is my gift to her, just as you are.”
Helo nodded but couldn’t completely agree. Hadn’t he failed to protect her from Cain? Hadn’t he been partly to blame for Cain using her to get revenge?
“Do it, Helo,” Dolorem said, tapping his chest.
Helo drove the blade through Dolorem’s hea
rt up to the hilt, until it stuck out of Dolorem’s back, gleaming coldly in the predawn light.
“Keep your hand on the hilt,” Dolorem said. “Take the back of my neck and lower me into the water on my signal. Goodbye, Helo. It’s been great to know you. Remember who you are. Make good choices and all that.”
Helo smiled. “I will”
Dolorem breathed out and closed his eyes. “I sure hope they have convenience stores in heaven. Take care of my girl for me. It’s time.”
Helo swallowed hard, a weight building in his chest. One more person he loved being swept away. “Goodbye, old friend. Thank you for everything.”
Dolorem closed his eyes and nodded, grasping Helo’s forearm. Gently, Helo lowered his friend into the water, and as he disappeared into the whispering flow of the river, the body’s weight on the sword disappeared, ash and greasy old clothes riding away on the current.
Helo lifted the sword out of the river, a gleaming white aura beaming from the newly sanctified blade. Goliath and Aclima looked on in silence, somber faces turned toward the aborning dawn as the sun edged up over the horizon and turned the river into a ribbon of light.
Be sure to catch Book 3 of Ash Angels, available now!
Ash Angels Book 3: A Mystery of Light
Learn more about the author and his books at briankfullerbooks.com and facebook.com/briankfullerbooks
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