by T. G. Ayer
She held out a pale hand, creased palm up. And though Daniel screamed and shook his head, the expression on his face turning a once handsome angel into something ugly, something horrible. He screamed again but nobody heard him. His spirit was like smoke, and it swirled in an eddy as the Fury coaxed him into her palm. Like a tornado, the shade of the Archangel Daniel spun on the palm of the Fury's hand, and then disappeared into nothing in the blink of an eye.
Evie sighed in relief. Then sighed again when the Fury nodded in greeting and disappeared in a puff of spirit smoke.
She would have sighed again, but instead, she fainted.
Chapter 28
Evie opened her eyes to find herself back in Elysium. Her heart fell, disappointed she wasn't back with Julian in Hades. But Elysium was surely a better option than the Pits of Tartarus. Her arm and thigh were numb but her thigh stung as if a thousand bees had decided to simultaneously dive-bomb the injured limb. She twisted her foot hoping the movement would stop the stinging, but all it did was send agony shooting up her thigh.
"Do not wriggle. You will open the wounds again," Gavriel's nagging was soft and soothing. She huffed and turned her head to look at the welcome sight of his face. She threw him a sheepish smile. "You are not the easiest patient to tend."
"Sorry. I'll try to be good," Evie said, swallowing against the lump in her throat."How long have I been out?"
"Two days." Gavriel leaned forward, the frown on his face saying what his mouth wouldn't. "What you need to do is get better. If you want to hand the mantle back to Julian you had better get well. Fast. We only have a few more days and a long way to go."
There was an urgency in his voice that brought reality slamming back down on Evie. "How long have I been out?"
"Only a few hours," he said reassuringly.
"Feels like days." Evie lay back on the soft pillow and exhaled. She shifted, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her cheeks.
"You lost a lot of blood. Drained, you were." He was trying to make light of the whole incident. Trying not to make her think about killing Daniel. But he hadn't had a hope to begin with. She swallowed. The world was likely better off with him gone, but Evie wasn't thrilled to be the one who dispatched him.
"So how is our patient?" Dania's voice filtered past Gavriel's body and she poked her hand through the crook of his elbow to smile at Evie.
"She needs to get better, that is how she is," he said, gruffly, scowling.
Dania punched him lightly on the shoulder and mimicked his scowl. "Well she will not get better with you around mister thunder cloud. Take that scowl and go away." She spoke sweetly. Still, the iron was there. He rose and gave her a tender glance before leaving without a fuss. "That man has not changed at all."
She shook her head and sat down beside Evie. "Are you well my dear?" Evie met her eyes, saw that she was not asking about her health. The state of her heart and her conscience did not seem likely to change very soon. "What you did today ... killing Daniel ... that took courage."
Evie nodded, trying to look at it from Dania's perspective. "I was just defending myself ... And Gavriel. I didn't go in there intending to kill him."
Dania patted Evie's arm. "You do not have to justify what you did. Not to me, not to anyone. He threatened your life and you defended it. Your life or his - simple as that."
"Still patricide as far as I can see." Evie's eyes filmed with tears and she couldn't look at Dania, couldn't meet her eye, too afraid of seeing the revulsion within them. Instead Dania grabbed her arm and shook her, uncaring that the wound on Evie's hand was just inches from her thumb.
"Never say that. Ever." Anger burned in Dania's eyes. "You did not kill your father. The man you killed was an Archangel with a black heart. One who would have killed you without a speck of conscience. He did not raise you. He did not care for you. He taught you nothing, helped you with nothing. Do not give him in death what you refused him in life. Do not give him power over you. If you do, then he wins. Then ... he wins."
The words, backed with such unadulterated passion, rang in Evie's ears. She just wanted to block it out, roll over and sleep. Try to forget everything that happened.
"Oh no, you do not get to do that. I know that look. You are not allowed to give up." Dania sat before Evie, gripping the Nephilim's chin in her fingers. "Look at me. You are not allowed to give up. There is too much at stake. You need to get back to Hades, and so does Gavriel. Neither of you can stay here for much longer. So cease feeling sorry for yourself."
Dania bent to the floor and lifted a bowl, removing its white linen cover. She swirled the golden liquid inside it, around and around.
Pure gold. Manna.
"Drink this. It will help you heal. Help your wounds and give you strength." Dania didn't wait for Evie to resist. She placed the bowl to Evie's lips and lifted it. A silent threat that Evie submitted to. Drink, or else.
So Evie drank deeply, and found herself reveling in the taste of sunshine and happiness and pure unadulterated bliss on her tongue. She lay back, languid and relaxed, wanting to stretch and yawn and curl up to sleep and dream. Of course, she didn't allow the stretching for fear of opening wounds, new and old. But she did yawn and curl up to sleep.
A few hours later, Evie awakened, refreshed and with a clear head. Gavriel stood by the window, staring out at something as the breeze played with the silken curtains. She found Dania at her side, stiff and still, as is she'd been waiting a while.
And she certainly didn't waste any time. She rose the moment Evie's eyes opened and said, "Right, you are ready." She patted Evie's satchel, and flipped it open to reveal the bulging contents; food for the trip back up to Hades. Evie swung her legs off the bed and found she had plenty of her old strength back. She sighed, so ready to leave. Dania laughed softly. "I would say come back soon, but..." She gave a mischievous grin and stepped back.
Gavriel opened his arms to his wife and she stepped into them, enfolded and all but disappearing within the bear hug. Evie blinked back tears at the sight, then averted her eyes. She felt like an intruder watching their last embrace.
Finally, Dania sniffed and drew back. Then she unclasped a pendant from around her neck. She walked to Evie and fastened it around her. Both Gavriel's and Dania's eyes glittered with tears. Evie wasn't sure what to say so she kept silent. Words seemed far too trivial for such a gift.
She touched the pendant and leaned forward to place a kiss on Dania's soft cheek. When she and Gavriel stepped through the curtained doorway, neither could bear to look back at Dania, standing alone in the now empty rotunda with sun shining in her hair, and tears gleaming in her eyes.
Goodbye Dania, Evie whispered.
They'd been rising up the black tunnel for almost two hours before Gavriel cleared his throat. "The children were not killed. The Control took them. It was only the mothers who were slaughtered." Evie listened in shocked silence. Her mother too. "They took the bodies of the children away and because everyone knew they burned the bodies of any Nephilim they found, we never looked for them. But she lives. Our child lives." The despair in his voice was an almost tangible thing and brought tears to Evie's eyes.
She swallowed hard. What could she say to this Revelation? It should have made him happy, instead he wept as he spoke. Air rush against their faces as they rose up through the earth, following the meandering tunnel.
"These are for you." He reached into his pocket and opened his palm. She saw two more pendants, so similar to the one Dania had placed around her neck that she didn't need to compare them. She had already traced the pendant so many times she had the pattern imprinted in her memory. They were identical. "These are given to our children. It was a tradition started by a few angels who had forsaken their vow by marrying Human women. Each child was given a pendant. Of course, the Control was not aware of the tradition so they didn't think to take the jewelry."
Evie looked at the two pendants glittering in her palm. Warm air brushed her wet cheeks before she realized she'd shed
tears for those lost children. "Two?" she asked, but she already knew the answer.
"You had a sister. At the time I'd thought they killed your mother before the babe was borne. Dania told me what really happened."
"How did she know the truth and you didn't?" His face contorted with grief at my question. "Because she was there when it happened. They arrived just after your sister came into the world. Dania tended your mother, birthed the babe and remained by her side. When the Control came they knew who Dania was. They killed her. Then they killed your mother, taking your infant sister away. They didn't think to look for another child as their intelligence would have indicated only one offspring for Daniel. Angels spent many months, even years away from their human families. When I arrived home I found it empty and assumed Dania had brought Alyssa over to play with you. But all I found was you, half starved and almost out of your mind. I knew you needed special care, more than I was able to give you. Patrick was my only option.."
Evie felt a sob grab hold of her throat. That was why all Patrick had known was Evie's mother had died in childbirth. Because even Gavriel himself had been unaware of the birth of the second child. Evie felt her fingers tighten at the horror of her mother's and Dania's deaths. Then she stiffened. Three pendants- one each for her and her sister. And the third? She cleared her throat. "You said 'the children were not killed'? Did they take your child too?
Gavriel dropped his gaze but Evie could see his throat convulse as he struggled with his own grief. "Dania took our daughter with her. Alyssa and you were of the same age. You grew up together, playmates all those years. When the servants warned her of intruders, Dania told you both to hide. She never saw Alyssa again. And when I arrived I only found you."
He fell silent and I didn't want to press him any further. So. I changed the topic. "So they had a plan? The Control? Is there something else bigger happening?" Evie tried not to think about her mother's death. She had not been fortunate enough to see her mother in Elysium. Unlike Gavriel. "Why is my mother not with Dania? In Elysium, I mean?"
He shook his head, grief still darkening his brow. "Sorcha killed one of the angels of the Control. You cannot enter Elysium if you have taken the life of another, regardless of the reasons."
"Sounds unfair." Evie gritted her teeth at the unfairness of the Underworld as a whole.
"It is unfair, but those are the rules."
"So where is she now?" Evie asked. She didn't expect an answer though. Gavriel's attitude would be so different had he known the whereabouts of the stolen children.
And he was shaking his head. "I don't know. So many places. Heaven? Reincarnation? I can't guess and I don't think anyone will tell us either."
"So my boon? The ones the Judges spoke of? This is my boon then?" Gavriel nodded. "A sister. I have a sister." Evie spoke the words, rolling them off her tongue as if testing the idea. Something she had never thought about.
A sister.
Chapter 29
Walking back into Julian's living room was surreal.
The fire flickered in the grate, its shadows dancing on the walls and the furnishings. The room was a refreshing change from black stone, lava rivers, and deadly scorpion babies.
But it wasn't the room that held Evie's attention. It was Persephone's hand on Julian's face, her nails caressing his cheek dangerously as if any change in mood would lead her to gouge the sharp red tips into his skin. Julian had his back to Evie, the silk of his white shirt lay against the strong muscles of his back. He remained unaware of her entry and Evie held off from announcing her arrival.
Evie watched the goddess. And though the expression in her eyes was far from seductive, Evie's hackles rose. So did her wings. They flared behind her in tandem with her anger.
Beside Evie, Gavriel stiffened and a quick glance at him showed him gulp down his shocked laughter. So he found this scene amusing. Good for him, though Evie, her blood pressure inching sky high.
Persephone turned to the movement at the door. When her gaze settled on Evie, her face darkened, shock coloring her skin a dusky rose. Evie frowned at the goddess, but Persephone didn't move. She remained frozen with shock, so surprised that Evie had walked into the room that she was lost for words. But it wasn't just Evie's intrusion on her moment with Julian that had shocked the goddess. Something else was going on in the she-wolf's head.
In the moment of silence that followed, a handful of memories tickled at Evie's mind. A cloaked figure in the pits. A strange sense of familiarity. The certainty that the fold of fabric had hidden the form and shape of a woman.
Persephone's swaying walk.
Persephone's flowery perfume.
Evie stiffened when the pieces fell into place. It had been Persephone who had gone to see Daniel ahead of Evie. Persephone who had freed him and put both Evie's and Gavriel's lives in danger. But the goddess had failed.
Miserably.
In the end her ally had been killed. Evie paused a second to consider her enemy's motive. Then she stiffened. In truth, Persephone was not her enemy. She didn't even know the goddess. Persephone's hatred was due to mere circumstance. It was Julian that Persephone seemed to think she owned. Evie's gut tightened. She didn't much like that thought. Persephone had her own husband, never mind that he was prancing around the world on a personal sabbatical.
"Persephone," Evie said softly her eyes never leaving the goddesses face. "I thought I recognized you." Evie's smile was friendly but contained enough venom to kill Kampe herself.
At the sound of Evie's voice, Julian jerked away from the goddess and spun around. "Evangeline, thank the Gods." Julian took two loping steps to her, and folded her into a hug not unlike the one Gavriel had so recently shared with Dania. A hug meant to convey love and care and it should have brought an explosion of joy to her heart knowing how deeply Julian felt for her. But her eyes and focus remained on Persephone whose serene beauty had crumpled in anger. Evie's rigid spine alerted Julian to her mood. "What is the matter? Recognize whom?"
"Oh, I just realized I recognized Persephone from the Pits."
"The Pits?" Julian let go of Evie and turned to stare at the goddess. "What were you doing in the Pits? You made it a rule never to go there." There was dangerous edge to his voice that made Evie accept she didn't truly know the man. Not yet.
"Yes, Julian," Evie answered, her gaze back on Persephone's white face. "I saw Sef at the Pits. Right before I was led into Daniel's cell. Right before I was almost slaughtered by a prisoner who had been mysteriously freed from his chains." While Evie let that statement sink in she noticed the smug satisfaction that filled Persephone's face. Julian would not have missed her expression either. "Oh, and right before I killed the prisoner."
The silence was a vacuum of nothingness.
Persephone's face was cold. And priceless. Her features were contorted in pure and volatile anger. So pure that the wood in every piece of furniture split and cracked apart, as if unable to hand the sudden temperature drop.
Evie felt goose bumps rise on her skin in protest against the sudden cold but she could not care less about Persephone's mood. Evie had dealt her own powerful blow. One that the goddess had not been expecting.
Evie had killed the Archangel and as a result, bested the goddess of springtime.
"What did you do?" Julian addressed Persephone, his tone even colder that the goddesses fury.
"Nothing I was not entitled to do, your Majesty." Persephone smiled but it was frost and ice, and her tone was every bit as condescending and arrogant as Daniel's. "Pity my plan did not work though."
"Get out." Julian pointed at the door, brooking no excuse from her. "I should have you sent back down to Tartarus for this."
Persephone scoffed. "And leave the earth to wallow in the arms of Winter? Really, Julian? I think not. Have you forgotten who I am? I am Mother Nature. I am Spring and Summer. I am the harvest and the grain and the food for the earth." She lifted her chin, tossed her blond curls over her shoulder and walked out, regal, grace
ful and terribly angry.
"What am I going to do with her?" Julian sighed as he watched Mother Nature leave the room. Then he turned to Evie. "I am so sorry Evangeline. I thought with Gavriel you would be well protected. I hadn't counted on Persephone to force her way into things.
"How did she even get to the Pits and back before us?" asked Evie, frowning.
"Persephone is a goddess of Hades, and has the same powers that I do. She can transport herself to wherever she wishes, anywhere in the world, above or below ground."
"Oh." Evie's eyes narrowed. "Then why didn't you just take me to Tartarus?"
Julian shook her head. "There are some thing I cannot meddle in. You are angelic, and you were travelling with an angel who is technically a prisoner of Hades. I could not help you beyond the little I was able to do. The gods of Judgment had to rule."
I heard his words and understood what he meant.
Then he said, "Something needs to be done about Sef." He spoke the words with such sadness that Evie's heart throbbed in empathy.
"Nothing needs to be done. Persephone is part of the scheme of things, both here in Hades and up on Earth," Evie said as she pushed back the sleeve to reveal the pulsing Marks. "But now, Julian, we have better things to think about than a jealous wife. It's time to end this."
Julian's gaze swiveled to the Marks and he sighed. Evie wasn't sure what that sigh meant as it sounded too sad for a man about to regain his immortality. "Very well, then." Julian spared Evie only one small frown. He glanced at Gavriel who smiled then tapped him a small salute before heading toward Julian's bar.
Then Julian beckoned Evie and led the way.