Kassern (Archangels Creed)

by Azure Boone

  Devyn sat in her usual chair, careful not to lean back and get dumped on her ass by the flimsy back rest. How long would it take Karly to notice something had happened? Probably not long. She'd been more attentive the past few months, since she got clean, as if aware the positions Devyn put herself into to keep a roof over their heads.

  "How did the end of shift go?" Karly opened a crumpled white paper bag and sat, mindful of her chair's tendency to topple if a sitter put too much weight on the left.

  "The usual, too many jerks wanting lap dances." Devyn pulled her hair free of the ponytail holder and let if fall free around her face. Maybe that would disguise any marks left from the encounter enough to get past her friend's sharp gaze. Devyn turned her attention on the white bag in Karly's lap. "What's that?"

  Karly glanced up. "Mrs. Jordan stopped me on my way up. Her daughter brought her some pumpkin pie. And Mrs. Jordan hates pumpkin pie." She held her prize up with a triumphant grin. Karly set the tray on the table abruptly, her grin gone. "What the fuck happened to you?"

  Shit. Of course she couldn't hide anything from Karly. She'd never tried, until recently. "Nothing. Just an asshole that got touchy-feely. Carlos bounced him, no problem." Devyn rushed to assemble a sandwich and take a bite so she could legitimately stop talking.

  "Bullshit." Karly took Devyn's sandwich right out of her hand. "Don't try to lie to me, girl. I know you too well. Now what happened?"

  Devyn hardened her mind and jaw with the sudden surge of emotions. Quick confession, no break downs. "Okay. So after the guy was bounced, he waited in the alley."

  Karly went to the fridge, took out one of their ancient metal ice cube trays and hurried back. "How did you get away?" She pried cubes from between the separators. "And don't tell me Carlos got rid of him, 'cause we both know he's perfectly happy to toss someone out of the club, but Helena would have his hide if he left the premises. Even to rescue the headliner."

  She couldn't argue with that. "Well, believe it or not, some guy out front, trying to save all the poor exploited whores, rescued me. He must have been on his way back to his Sunday School class, because he dragged the jerk off me, and knocked him out, or something."

  Karly put the ice in a threadbare dishtowel and pressed it against the tender spot on Devyn's jaw. "Did the Good Samaritan give you that?" She nodded at Devyn's throat.

  Conscious of a slightly unfamiliar sensation, Devyn lifted her right hand to her throat, as if by habit, only to jerk her head down in surprise. What the hell?

  Warm metal met her fingertips. A smooth chain with broad, open links circled her neck, looping to just below the notch between her collar bones. Following the chain, her fingertips encountered a heavy pendant, a cross, dangling against her skin.

  "Well? Where'd you get it?"

  "Oh, I just found it." At least that much was true. She left out the part about finding it right that instant. Where had it come from?

  The Sunday School teacher must have put it on her while she was so upset after the attack. Odd, though. She couldn't imagine allowing him, or anyone else, that close to her after such an attack. Vaguely she remembered swatting his hand away when he tried to help her stand.

  She reached to unclasp the chain but her fingers refused to obey the order. Some part of her scarred mind insisted, Don't take it off. The warmth of the pendant penetrated her chest, loosening it. Devyn wanted to be afraid of the odd sensation, but her body clearly hungered for the soothing comfort. How could a piece of jewelry do that?

  ****

  Kassern sat on the chair in the corner of the living room, watching Devyn toss and turn with nightmares on the narrow couch. How long since Kassern had been so close to humans? They hadn't known about electricity, and internal combustion engines had yet to be dreamed up. The only thing really familiar was the urge to smack them upside their heads. He'd never quite mastered the virtue of patience, so he was chosen to be a warrior and not a humanitarian wiener.

  He went to her makeshift bed and rested one finger on her sweaty forehead. "Be still, girl."

  He watched her mind grasp for the life preserver and two seconds later, Kassern had a ruby fingernail embedded into the demon tormenting her. Before the black fiend could struggle and whine, Kassern blew a breath of thin ruby mist, sealing the demon's disgusting pores, especially that abyss of a mouth. Kassern sliced a slit in the air with his finger tip and chucked the thing into a holding cell.

  He angled his head at the sleeping female, watching her breathing calm and her hand move to the crucifix he'd planted there. So far his little matchmaking scheme was a success. His male human was a little eccentric to the point of being entertaining, but he had solid qualities. His female had some hang-ups, but no humans were untainted in this realm. These two were perfectly incompatible and that would make it easier for Kassern to strengthen their weaknesses.

  If he could just get them to answer his call. And then get them to fall in love. He snorted at the second task - unfamiliar territory for him. What did he know of human love? Well, other than how unpredictable and flaky it could be, zero.

  A disturbance on the metaphysical level caught his attention and Kassern tuned his ear to the angel guarding the human named Karly. What was he going on about? He formed a spirit link and gave a rhetorical knock on the angel's armor. The angel immediately let him in without words, and Kassern looked at the girl sitting on the bedside and saw the source of the guard's concern. She held a razor blade between trembling fingers. She was tired on every level. Ready to make it all go away. Her second serious attempt. No one knew about all the dozens of times she backed out at the thinking or planning stages.

  He didn't get it. She believed in Heaven and Hell and she was sure the latter was her deserved destiny. Why would she hunger for death?

  Kassern created a second circuit and connected directly to her, annoyed with the illogic of her need. Annoyed that he didn't know and especially annoyed that her guard didn't allow him access to the information. But then Kassern hadn't asked. Didn't plan on it, either.

  Forming a finger with the ruby tendril of power, he began at the source. His power spiked when he entered her heart, reacting to the evil clinging there and wounding her soul-deep. From her subconscious past to her present.

  Looking closely, Kassern paused. She'd not let it change her. She'd resisted the evil's persuasion to become like the monsters that hurt her. From her cruel mother and sexually abusive father, to the jerk that hurt her in every way imaginable. The one she called boyfriend. Their evil covered her, often hiding the real her, but it hadn't yet possessed her. Astounding.

  Poking around, Kassern finally beheld the life source of the demonic power over her. She saw herself as filthy. Not worthy of Heaven, deserving of Hell. It had been beaten into her, over and over, throughout her life by the very people who should have protected her. The emotion was so strong, it drove her to kill herself and give in to the punishment. And though it was a lie, the fact that she believed it with all her scarred heart, made it a power even her guard could not legally expel.

  Kassern's anger bristled further with the discovery that no one prayed for her. That alone would give her guard an opening to act, to at least place a buffer between her and the poison pouring into her from every quarter.

  The human sobbed and placed the blade on her vein. She was ready. No demons hovered near to press her on. They didn't need to. They had put some of their best work into her, she was a finished product, operating her own destruction now. All their wicked persistence paid off.

  Strictly speaking, he shouldn't interfere, since she wasn't directly related to his mission. The suicide of her best friend would have a bad effect on Devyn, though, and might change her to such a degree she would no longer be suitable. Saving the girl may prevent him from losing the world.

  Time to cash in on one of the perks that came with wooing his humans. Kassern created a third circuit to Devyn and channeled the desperate girl's pain right into to her peaceful mind.

/>   Devyn woke with a gasp and flew off the couch, heading straight to Karly's room. Kassern broke the connection and the ruby tendrils of power returned to him, syphoning back through his open palm.

  He listened to the sobbing girls, satisfied. Deed accomplished. For now. It would take more than one call down from the ledge for that one. He'd have to make sure his male met her. Troy's prayers would buy passage for her watchman to work. Speaking of which. Time to go see how his nerdy male was handling the returning demonic, toxic red panties.

  Religious little nut.

  Chapter Three

  Troy paced up and down the sides of the bed, contemplating the Satanic panties oh so neatly on the pillow and not in the trash can.

  What could it mean? Maybe his subconscious was behind it and he'd taken the panties from the trash while he slept. But what sort of message could he be trying to give himself?

  Inspired, he hurried to the kitchen and brought back the broom, and used the handle to fish the offending garment up. With the speed of a caterpillar, he walked to the trash, half expecting them to launch onto his face. Why fear such a ridiculous thing? He wasn't sure, but that exact fear threatened to overwhelm him in that moment.

  Before he made it to the kitchen doorway, his feet tangled in something that wasn't there. His upper body torpedoed to the floor with immense momentum, as if shoved. To his holy horror he landed with his nightmare come true, face planted in that fabric from the pits of Hell.

  He tried to hold his breath too late. Instead he gasped and inhaled the scent. Scrambling to his feet, he induced a series of loud gags. Maybe he could stop the contamination from fully entering and defiling his physical temple. My God what had he done?

  It was too late. The scent was there. And it lingered in his nostrils and no doubt forever in his psyche. He spun left, then right, heart pounding. What to do? How to clean?

  Tearing his clothes off as he ran, he jumped in the shower, turning the water to ice cold. Frantic, he let it fill up his nose. He sputtered and choked when some made it into his windpipe. Eyes tearing, he welcomed the burning sensation, spewing out the filthy memory.

  The light bulb moment hit rather bluntly and Troy felt incredibly foolish for not recognizing the real wickedness. The evil wasn't in the scent of those panties. It was everything else about them, what they stood for, what that woman reduced herself to because of that life.

  His breathing slowed a bit as he realized even more. What he'd smelled was innocence exploited. The most precious thing God had given a woman to give to a man she loved.

  What he'd smelled was--or at least should have been considered--divine.

  That was a tall order for his body. He shuddered at the idea of considering that scent in a divine light. Another light bulb moment hit him. He shut off the water, contemplating it, not happy. Ashamed. He'd become tainted by the sin. And had forgotten the truth. Like the stigma of a black cat.

  There was nothing unholy about a black cat. Or any other object used for sin.

  Troy stood in the dripping silence, in his stupidity for a few seconds. How had he slipped into that ignorance? That stigma?

  The scent on the panties was no more sinful than the pussy cat.

  He froze in horror and bit his lip. Did he just use that filthy term? My God! Maybe hanging on those street corners was rubbing off on him slowly? Maybe he was becoming subconsciously desensitized by the seducing spirits there?

  Troy grasped logic once more. The bottom line hadn't changed, vulgar terminology or not. Vaginas were good, not evil. Babies came from them—life. So everything about them was wholesome and good.

  His mind suddenly remembered. The dream. Oh God!

  He turned the shower on full force and jumped under the ice cold spray. But it was too late. His body made the connection and responded.

  The scent in the panties was the exact same from the dream! He'd never been so painfully aroused in his life. Oh God it was intoxicating!

  It's not a sin. It's not a sin. It's not a sin.

  He held himself in an attempt to stop his male organ from growing. He gasped at the sensation his touch brought, and like a needle being plunged into his arm, his eyes rolled in his head as pleasure raced its toxin into his body.

  It's not a sin…it's not a sin…it's not a sin…

  He couldn't stop himself as he stroked to the tune, heat building like a tsunami of lava. The looming ecstasy drove all thoughts away, leaving only that amazing feeling he'd had in that dream. He was between her legs again. God yes, tasting her and smelling her, then devouring. She was sweet and salty. Her moans were angelic. And her pleasure was what he was born to bring, her cries in climax.

  For the first time in his life, he broke the commitment he'd made to himself…to God. To never indulge in what caused men to become depraved enough to exploit women. But as his moans of awe and raw lust filled the shower in orgasm, he knew. It was all part of another lying stigma.

  Pleasure wasn't bad. Exploiting women, anyone, for pleasure was the true evil.

  God, he'd never do that.

  ****

  Regretfully, Devyn shut the water off before it could get too cold. Maybe someday she and Karly would have a place where they could spend more than five minutes each in the shower and still have plenty of hot water. That wouldn't happen on their current path, though.

  She dried off, then wrapped the threadbare towel around her hair. Rather than look like a stripper headed to work, she would wait until she reached the Castle to do her hair and makeup. For the moment, just clean and dry was sufficient.

  An unfamiliar metallic glint caught her eye as she passed the spotted and blackened old mirror over the sink. Fear froze her rigid as she stared at the deep glow of gold at her throat. The crucifix. She held on to the sink, feeling dizzy, replaying how she'd stashed it in the box where she kept her panties and extra bra.

  Was she sleepwalking? Obviously she had to be. Necklaces didn't walk themselves out of boxes and attach themselves to people's necks. The urge to rip it off warred with her need to have it. If so many damn horror movies didn't involve crucifixes with unreliable power that seemed to only piss off shit that shouldn't exist, maybe she wouldn't be freaking the fuck out.

  She'd been having bad dreams. Maybe she did put the crucifix on while she slept, since wearing it seemed to calm her.

  She fought the hesitation, took it off again and dropped it on the shelf. The flat gold chain with its broad links, and the heavy gold crucifix wouldn't go well with her G-String and tear-away bra.

  Refusing to allow the damn crucifix back into her mind, she turned to more important topics. Devyn wanted to have a serious talk with Karly while they were both calm and awake. She headed to the kitchen after dressing, planning to do just that over breakfast. Ransacking the single, nearly bare, food cupboard in their little kitchen, Devyn began converting the odds and ends she found into something edible. Stale hot-dog buns and the single outdated egg became French toast, chocolate syrup the new maple. Half dried out spam would play the part of bacon or sausage.

  In the mood to splurge, she dumped the old coffee grounds, instead of just adding a new scoop, and started out fresh. Devyn looked around her. Everything in their lives was make-shift-shit. Damn! So fucking tired of pinching every single penny until it screamed! Just once, she'd like to cook an entire meal, without having to substitute cheap scraps for ingredients.

  She slid the sad little chunks of French toast and fried cholesterol onto a cracked plate as Karly shuffled into the kitchenette and sank into her usual chair. Avoiding looking too closely at Karly's delicate features, still puffy from crying, Devyn took her own seat, passing a steaming mug across the table's warped surface.

  Karly sipped automatically, then her eyes widened with surprise. "What's the occasion? We haven't had full-strength coffee in ages!"

  How direct should she be? "Well, you're still here to drink it with me, for one." Devyn took a sip from her own mug.

  "I'm sorry for putting
you through that. It won't happen again." The careful control of the expression on her pale, heart-shaped face told Devyn exactly how much Karly wanted to avoid the subject of her suicide attempt. She'd prefer it forgotten.

  Devyn shook her head. "Uh-uh. Not good enough. Look, I know things aren't easy. They never have been. But some things are… well, more difficult than they need to be." Shit, that sounded real wise. Like some of the idiots that worked for social services they'd always made fun of. The ones who thought skimping on dental floss was true hardship. She chewed her lip. "What I mean is, I think you should make some changes. I'm scared for you, and not just because of what you might do to yourself." There. She'd opened the door.

  Tears gathered, making Karly's pale blue eyes shimmer. She took a breath, as if to speak, but stayed silent.

  "Karly, exactly what's the deal with you and Jake?" Just saying the bastard's name almost gagged her. "Why are you with such a low life? You deserve better."

  Anger flared, flushing Karly's pale cheeks. "What are you talking about? None of this is Jake's fault. He loves me. He wants to help us both."

  Karly's long-term boyfriend gave Devyn the creeps. He wasn't just dangerous, he was sneaky about it. And he resented the closeness between Devyn and Karly. "Baby, you know better than that." She took a deep breath. Hopefully what she was about to say wouldn't cost her the only real friend she had in the world. "He's using you. He hits you. We both have seen the same thing happen to other girls. He'll be turning you out, next thing you know."

  Karly's face wilted with pain and the tears finally spilled over. "You're just jealous." Her tiny words barely squeaked out, colored with pain where conviction should be.

  Devyn wanted to puke from agony. Karly wasn't just repeating the lie branded into her mind, but her tormented expression confirmed the worst. "He already has, hasn't he?"