Requiem for Darkness - A Paranormal Romance Featuring Fallen Angels, Demons, and Witches

by Shuler, Tara

  “You have not,” was his simple reply.

  “Good, because I really didn’t mean to.”

  Aztos ignored her comment and continued to eat in silence. Beth turned her eyes down toward her plate, feeling uncomfortable and a little sad.

  “There are a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about,” Beth said a moment later.

  “Oh?”

  “Well, there was this girl back at your father’s house. I got the feeling she was afraid of you.”

  “What gave you that idea?”

  “She didn’t say anything,” Beth said quickly. “It’s just that she got this look on her face whenever I mentioned your name.”

  “Look?”

  “She looked afraid,” Beth explained.

  “Perhaps you were mistaken.”

  Beth didn’t know how to broach the subject without letting him know Catherine had told her anything, so she was forced to let it drop.

  “Yes, you’re probably right,” she lied. “Something else I was wondering. What’s your father like?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I just want to know more about him. What kind of person is he?”

  “He is a demon. What more do you need to know?”

  “Well, you’re a demon, and I want to know more about you.”

  “Do you?” Aztos asked, obviously surprised.

  “Yes, of course. I have to spend the rest of eternity with you, right? Speaking of which, does that mean I am immortal, now?”

  “We are all immortal,” he corrected her. “It is just that humans have mortal bodies that cannot easily be resurrected, while demons are able to move their souls into new bodies quite easily, and our mortal bodies are harder to destroy.”

  “Oh. Well… then what will happen to me if I die?”

  “Your soul will either be thrown into The Pit, or you will be resurrected.”

  “And what determines which happens?”

  “Lucifer.”

  “What criteria does he use to make that decision?”

  “I am not entirely certain, but I would guess it would be based partially on whether he believes you are a good wife for me, and partially on whether he believes you can help me fulfill my mission, whatever that may be.”

  “Well, that’s pretty convenient for you, huh?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if I’m a good wife, I might have a chance to avoid The Pit. That ought to help keep me in line, right?”

  “That was not my intention in telling you that,” he clarified. “You asked, and I told you the truth as far as I am aware.”

  “I didn’t mean to insinuate you were trying to use it to keep me in line. I was just mentioning that it was a convenient situation for you.”

  “It is hardly a convenient situation to know that one day my wife might be cast into The Pit of Infernus because Lucifer decides she is no longer of use.”

  Hearing Aztos refer to her that way made her soften a bit more. It was almost as though he might miss her if she were gone, and that he might want to protect her if she were in danger.

  “Something just occurred to me,” Beth said suddenly.

  “What?”

  “Well, when we were at your father’s house, I was realizing that the situation didn’t seem as bizarre as it should. I mean, meeting demons and visiting Hell should have really freaked me out, but it didn’t. And I think I just realized why.”

  “Oh? Why?”

  “Because I’m half witch,” Beth answered.

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Well, maybe being a witch gives me a natural predisposition to accept the supernatural.”

  “Perhaps,” Aztos said thoughtfully.

  “Do you think I have any powers?” Beth asked curiously.

  “I would not know.”

  “I don’t think I do. Surely I would know by now if I did, right?”

  “One would think so.”

  “Do you have any powers?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Does that mean you do?” Beth asked.

  “I have some abilities, but I rarely use them, and I would rather not talk about them.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t want to talk about, Aztos.”

  “Life, for me, has largely been an unpleasant nightmare that I would rather forget.”

  Beth hung her head solemnly and picked at her food. She wondered if he were speaking of his treatment at the hands of his father, and, if so, what the extent of that treatment had been.

  “I’m sorry,” she said meekly.

  “Life is finally looking somewhat positive for me for the first time,” Aztos informed her. “I do not wish to look back.”

  Beth wondered if he were referring to his marriage to her or to something else. Maybe he only meant that he had been able to get away from his father and out of Hell.

  “Will you ever have to go back there?” Beth asked him.

  “To Hell?” he asked. “I will have to from time to time. We are all given specific assignments we must attend to.”

  “You mean like your father making a deal with my mother?”

  She only meant it to be playful, but Aztos cringed.

  “Yes, that is, unfortunately, the type of assignment I am referring to.”

  “I didn’t mean anything by it. I know it’s not your fault you were born into this life.”

  “You are far more understanding than the average human,” he pointed out.

  “Yes, I suppose I am,” she agreed, eyeing their empty plates. “Let me clean this up.”

  Beth swept the plates away and took them to the kitchen. She flitted around, gathering dishes and loading them into the dishwasher.

  “Thank you,” Aztos said from behind her.

  “For what?” she asked curiously, turning with a pan in her hand to face him.

  “For being so understanding of me… of this life I was forced into… of this situation. Thank you for being kind. It is rare that anyone is kind to me.”

  She looked at him with pity. She wanted to hug him, but she wasn’t sure how that would be received. She only smiled at him, and returned to the dishes.

  “What would you like to do, today?” Aztos asked, changing the subject.

  “What do you normally do?” Beth wanted to know.

  “I usually read when I am not carrying out an assignment,” he answered.

  “Do you want to watch a movie?” she suggested.

  “That would be acceptable,” Aztos agreed.

  After Beth had cleaned the kitchen, she followed Aztos to the basement. Knowing her passion for movies and television, he had set up a quiet spot for her, including a comfortable sofa, a big screen television, and hundreds of DVDs.

  “When did you have time to set all of this up?” Beth asked, looking around in awe.

  “I had a servant do it after you said you liked television and movies yesterday,” he admitted.

  “How? I haven’t seen you talk to anyone. Did you do it while I was asleep?”

  “I communicated telepathically,” he explained.

  “Oh. Oh! Is that how your father spoke with Catherine?” Beth said, suddenly remembering the moment she spaced out and then told her they were ready for her at the wedding.

  “Who is Catherine?”

  “The servant girl at your father’s house.”

  “I did not realize she had a name.”

  “You might if you ever took the time to ask,” Beth pointed out.

  “It never occurred to me to do so,” Aztos said truthfully.

  “Well, she sort of spaced out the morning she was helping me get ready for the wedding, and then she said your father said you were ready for me,” Beth explained.

  “Ah, yes. That must be what happened.”

  “I wondered what was going on with that.”

  “We can speak telepathically to our servants, but we can only speak to other demons and to humans telepathically in em
ergencies. It takes a tremendous amount of adrenaline to use the ability on demons and humans, because their minds are not as weak as those of the lost souls.”

  “So your bodies work like ours? With adrenaline and all that?”

  “Our bodies are mortal, so physically we are human in most ways.”

  “Does that mean you can die just as easily?”

  “No, not exactly. We do have the ability to heal ourselves quickly. We are not nearly as fragile as humans.”

  “Oh. So that’s one of your powers?”

  “That is one of them, yes. So what would you like to watch?” Aztos asked, changing the subject.

  Beth scanned the shelf beside the television. She had seen many of the movies, but some she did not recognize.

  “What type of movies do you enjoy?” Beth asked him.

  “I do not really watch movies, often. I prefer to read,” he admitted. “You choose whatever you wish.”

  Choosing a movie to watch with a demon was difficult. She knew he’d had a bad reaction to Glee, so she thought it might be best if she stayed away from movies that were too cheerful.

  “I don’t know what you would enjoy,” Beth lamented.

  “Do not worry about me,” Aztos told her. “I do not really have a preference.”

  Beth spotted a movie she knew she really loved, and she touched it with her finger. She paused, wondering if it were the right choice.

  “If you wish to watch that one, we will do so,” Aztos said.

  She pulled the DVD box off the shelf and opened it. It had been one of her favorite movies for years – Bram Stoker’s Dracula. She put the movie into the DVD player, and she and Aztos settled down onto the sofa.

  Although technically she was watching a movie with her husband, they may as well have been brother and sister. Aztos sat at one end of the sofa, with both feet planted firmly on the floor. Beth sat at the other end, but she put her feet up on the sofa and leaned back against the arm.

  It was strange sitting there watching a movie with him. One part of her wanted to reach out to him, to rest her head on his shoulder as she’d always expected she might do one day with her husband. Another part of her, however, was still anxious around him. He was, after all, a demon. And there was always that dark side looming over her. She never knew when she might see it, and that frightened her. It seemed as though a storm was gathering on the horizon, and it could strike at any moment.

  Beth shivered, and Aztos raised one eyebrow at her. She smiled, attempting to let him know nothing was wrong. Inside, however, she was an anxious wreck.

  Chapter Five

  The next few weeks were rather mundane. For the first few days, Aztos was home all day. Then, with increasing frequency, he was called away on assignments for Lucifer. Soon, he was leaving for hours each day, sometimes for days at a time.

  Beth grew restless. She was bored sitting home alone every day, but she had no friends or family she wished to interact with. Somehow, her mundane human life now held no interest, yet her new life was just as unfulfilling.

  Their home was situated at the end of a long, winding road. They had no neighbors for miles, surrounded on all sides by a dense forest. One day, Beth could no longer stand seeing the same four walls. Aztos had been gone on an assignment for three days – his longest ever – and Beth was overcome with boredom and loneliness.

  She ventured out into the forest for a walk. The trees formed a thick canopy overhead, blocking out most light. The forest was dark, but not frighteningly so. Enough light passed through the dense leaf cover to illuminate her way.

  A small pathway wound through the trees, and Beth followed it curiously. The path led her into a small, grassy clearing. A stream bubbled and trickled through the clearing, and it was flanked on both banks by a lush growth of ferns and mossy boulders. Sunlight filtered in glowing beams through the canopy of trees and sparkled on the rippling water.

  The scene was breathtaking. Beth was frozen, unwilling to move, lest she awaken. This place was so enchanting, she thought it must be a dream. Such a place could never truly exist.

  “What are you doing here?” she heard a silky male voice ask her.

  She whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. She was unable to locate anyone.

  “Who’s there?” she called.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” the voice asked, and she could sense a somber sadness in it.

  “Where are you?” she probed, still seeking the mysterious stranger.

  “You should go before you get hurt,” he warned.

  “I’m not afraid,” she lied, trying to keep her voice steady. “Show yourself.”

  “You will not like what you see,” he said, his voice growing ever more forlorn.

  “It is unsettling speaking to someone I can’t see,” she commented.

  “Very well,” he relented. “But you were warned.”

  Beth noticed a shimmer above a boulder by the stream. It undulated about like a heat wave for a moment, and then he materialized. He sat atop the boulder, one knee bent, and the other leg hanging down toward the ground. Bare feet peeked from under a pair of loosely fitted ivory linen pants. His arm rested on his bent knee, and his head was cast downward in shame. He was shirtless, and his ragged brown hair hung loosely toward his shoulders. She couldn’t see his face, but from his pose, he looked dejected, and lost.

  “Who are you?” she asked gently.

  “My name is Malachai,” he answered, without looking up.

  “What are you doing here?” she wanted to know.

  “This is my home,” he explained. “I should be asking you what you are doing here.”

  “I live in the house down that way,” Beth said, motioning behind her with her head. “When you say this is your home, you mean here in the forest?”

  “Yes. This is the only home I have.”

  “Why? What happened to you?”

  He finally looked up at her, and she gasped in spite of herself. He had the face of an angel. It was delicate, and beautiful, but it was laced with a sadness unlike anything she had ever seen. His eyes were a soft shade of hazel, and they were filled with such intense regret and despair that Beth could hardly stand to look at him. Malachai mistook her gasp for one of horror.

  “I apologize for my appearance. I know that I am hideous,” Malachai said sadly.

  “Hideous? Are you serious?”

  “You’ve just seen someone materialize before your eyes, yet you do not ask what I am. Why is that?” he asked, ignoring her question.

  “I’ve seen many things. Nothing surprises me, anymore,” she admitted. “But you didn’t answer my question. What happened to you?”

  “You are a mortal, are you not?” he asked.

  “In a manner of speaking, I suppose,” she answered, not knowing what else to say.

  “Then it is best I don’t discuss such things with you.”

  “I can handle it. Like I said, I’ve seen many things.”

  His face was stony, but his eyes belied his stoicism. Inside them burned the pain of a torment that Beth could not possibly understand.

  “I have been exiled from my family,” Malachai explained. “I am an outcast, no longer fit to walk among them.”

  “And you must live here? Alone?”

  “That is my punishment,” he admitted.

  “What did you do?”

  “I refused a direct order.”

  “And they exiled you for it?”

  “In my family, one does not disobey a direct order for any reason.”

  “So why’d you do it?”

  “Because I believed the action being asked of me would be unjust.”

  “Oh,” she responded.

  Beth had been trying to resist asking the question that haunted her mind, but at last she could not refrain.

  “Are you a demon?” she asked bluntly.

  He scoffed.

  “What would make you ask such a question?” he growled. “Of course I am no demon! What
do you know of demons, anyway?”

  “I know enough,” she said. “If you’re not a demon, what are you?”

  “Finally, she asks,” he muttered.

  “Well?” Beth pressed.

  “I was an angel,” he said, once again hanging his head in shame.

  “Was?”

  “I am fallen from grace. I was cast out for disobedience.”

  “What exactly did you do?”

  “I would rather not discuss it.”

  “Alright. I won’t force you.”

  Beth sat down in a cool patch of thick grass and plucked a blade, running it absently through her fingertips.

  “I regret my actions,” he tried to explain. “No. Actually, I regret that I was forced to make such a decision, but I would make the same one again.”

  “It must have been important to you.”

  “I was asked to do something my conscience would not allow.”

  “Then maybe you did the right thing,” Beth offered.

  “I don’t know. Perhaps.”

  He turned his head to stare at the glistening water that trickled lazily down the stream.

  “Are you exiled forever? Will you ever go back?”

  “It is rare when those who have fallen are accepted back into Heaven.”

  “But it’s possible, right?”

  “Possible, but unlikely,” he lamented.

  “Isn’t there anything you could do?”

  “I’ve been stripped of most of my powers and made mortal. There is little I can do about my situation.”

  “Don’t say that. There is always a way.”

  “Not this time. Not everything can be fixed. Not everything can be taken back.”

  “That’s not true. There is nothing so broken that it cannot be fixed.”

  He shook his head somberly.

  “I have nothing left in me. There is no fight left, even if it were possible.”

  Beth felt a tremendous sorrow pressing down on her. Malachai had only done what he felt was right, and now he was cast out by his own family. Even worse, she could see the hopelessness in his eyes. It was nearly palpable.

  “Isn’t there anything I can do to help?” she asked him.

  “Perhaps you should just leave,” he suggested, still watching the flowing water rippling over the rocks.

  “I don’t want to leave,” Beth protested. “I just got here, and I like it here.”