Lavender Fields

by Natalina Reis

  The house was small and they had no extra rooms, so Joan set me up on the couch we had been sitting on. I didn’t need much, but she insisted on providing me with blankets, pillows, and a change of clothes. “You won’t sleep in your day clothes while you’re my guest.” She also magicked a new toothbrush. She was so excited I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t need it since angels were gifted with permanently clean teeth. However, even angels couldn’t go forever without a good shower, so when she offered me a towel and a bar of soap, I almost kissed her.

  By the time I left the shower, Caleb had retired to his room and Joan was waiting for me in yoga pants and a T-shirt. “You look good,” she said appreciatively. “And smell good too. No wonder Caleb can’t take his eyes off you.” Her pretty face, so different from her brother’s, opened up in a generous smile. “So glad you’re here, Sky. Good night.”

  I was alone in the living room, lit only by the small lamp on the end table. Unhurriedly, I looked around me. The old, mismatched furniture was as welcoming as an old friend. I entertained the idea of sneaking into Caleb’s room and following through with my earlier fantasy, but the man I was in love with was recovering from a life-threatening injury and needed to heal.

  I sighed and stretched my long body on the short sofa, neglecting to cover myself, and much to my surprise began to drift away to sleep.

  Falling Again

  ____________

  WANTING

  To my dismay, I found out that I was no Sherlock Holmes. I had been investigating the strange case of the dark angel for almost two weeks, and so far I was coming up empty—although I did have a great title for a mystery if I ever decided to become an author. On one hand, the fact that Samael or any of his cronies hadn’t shown up to wreak havoc in Caleb’s life was a relief. On the other, it also made me very nervous as to what they may be plotting.

  Caleb was getting stronger every day, in spite of Joan’s assumption to the contrary. He was able to walk around without much help and didn’t require as many hours of sleep as before. The scar on his forehead was healing nicely, and the road burns on his face were faded. His arm, on the other hand, was still bandaged; the burns there had gone much deeper and were taking longer to heal. I watched him with fascination as he wobbled around the house, seemingly aimless but with purpose nevertheless. His hair had been shaved for the surgery and had grown back just enough to cover his scalp with a very dark, fuzzy layer. Sheltered beneath equally dark lashes, his unusual eyes glittered and shone like beams of light that filled me with longing.

  Angels dated. Some, like my parents, mated for life and lived lives not unlike those of human couples. I’d had my romantic liaisons—far and between, it was true, but there nevertheless. Being the clumsy one, the “liability,” didn’t make me very attractive to other angels though. Angelic creatures treasured perfection, order, control. I was the perfect picture of everything flawed, chaotic, and out of control. Most of my dates had been angels going through a rebellious stage who thought they would enjoy a relationship with a wild one. They didn’t.

  In the relative solitude of my life, I had never felt anything like the longing I did every time I looked at Caleb. It scared me a little.

  With Joan back in school, it was oddly quiet. Her incessant chatter filled the house with bubbling life, and I missed it. The silence provided an opportunity for my hyperactive brain to fill me with dread that this—whatever this thing with Caleb and Joan was—would be over too soon, that Samael would take Caleb. Fear that Caleb didn’t and would never love me back.

  “You have that look.” Caleb’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.

  “What look?”

  “The one that tells me you’re a million miles away.” He was leaning against the door frame, the corded muscles across his chest bulging slightly under the blue T-shirt. My breath quickened.

  “I was thinking it’s too quiet here without the elf around.” With my heart playing a crazed drum solo, I tried to smile but probably frowned instead. I was so over my head.

  Caleb took a few steps forward until he was standing right beside me, and I stumbled backward slightly as my legs turned to Jell-O. My famous angelic awkwardness came flooding back to me with a vengeance. Uncertain of where to put my hands or rest my eyes, I fumbled and almost tripped over a decorative basket behind me. Caleb reached out to brace me against a fall, and I found myself suddenly wrapped in his arms. The room became very hot, my throat desert dry.

  “Do I make you nervous?” The question was a bit surprising considering our bodies were now so close I could feel the rhythm of his breathing. I blinked rapidly, a fluttering of tiny wings in my belly. Caleb chuckled softly. “There! You lost your voice. Why are you ill at ease around me?”

  I wanted to reply, I really did, but my dry mouth wouldn’t let me, and my thoughts had gone as fuzzy as the morning mist over the harbor. I may have stuttered something, but I couldn’t be sure. Caleb looked at me amused, his hand still loosely wrapped around my waist. Then he did that thing, the one where he licked his luscious lips and upturned the corner of his mouth in a half smile. A shiver shook me from my toes to the top of my head. My hidden wings quivered in anticipation and I forgot all my earlier anxieties. I stepped forward until my body was flush with his, every hard ridge that was Caleb touching my hypersensitive body. I heard a soft moan and realized it was me. His bandaged arm followed the other one around me and pulled me closer, so close there was no way of hiding my reaction to his touch.

  For someone who claimed not dating often, Caleb seemed a virtuoso of the art of seduction. His eyes trained on my mouth, begging me to kiss him, as he slid a hand down to press my lower body against his.

  “What are you doing to me?”

  Did I say that out loud?

  Caleb laughed, a soft rolling sound deep in his throat. Our lips connected with a hunger that both pleased and shocked me. I wanted this man like I had never wanted anyone or anything in my life.

  His tongue playing havoc with my senses, Caleb pulled me even closer and I decided at that moment that our clothes were in the way. I fumbled with the button on his jeans, never once allowing my lips to part from his. After a few seconds, I gave up on the pants and turned my attention to his T-shirt, holding on to the lower edges and pulling it over his head, throwing it across the room. Caleb pressed his lips to the crook of my neck and ignited a wildfire.

  The angel in me had gone into hiding somewhere in the depths of my being, so it must have been the human part of me who noticed the scars and scratches across his chest and arms, the telltale signs that he was still recovering from a life-threatening accident.

  What am I doing? Am I really considering having sex with a convalescent human? Where has my angelic sense gone?

  Probably to the same place Caleb’s shirt did.

  “I’m sorry, Caleb. I wasn’t thinking.” I pushed myself away from him, my whole being protesting the separation. “You just had surgery and here I am…. Sorry.”

  Caleb looked a little dazed, as if waking up from a deep sleep and not being sure of what he was witnessing. “Are you really sorry?” His bare chest was making my decision to be sensible very difficult. He stepped closer again. I stepped back. “Come on, Sky. I’m fine. Healed almost completely.” He pointed at his still very purple head scar. “I can handle it.”

  I moved backward a couple extra steps and twisted my hands in semi-agony. “No, it’s not right. The doctors said complete rest for at least six weeks. It’s been less than four weeks. Too soon.”

  Caleb wiped his face with a hand and sighed deeply. “Do you really not want to do this?”

  My breath was still coming out in little spurts, my heart a stampede. “Yes. I mean no. I mean—hell!” I looked at him, all muscle and length, and my gut clenched in yearning. My voice went quieter. “I want you. Badly. But I also care too much about you and Joan and realize that giving in to my wanting right now could hurt you.”

  “And you don’t want to hurt
me.” He was smiling that devilish smile of his.

  I smiled too. “No, I don’t care about that. What I don’t want is to face Joan’s wrath if you do get hurt.” He burst out laughing and I followed suit. I loved it when his eyes crinkled at the corners. Before I could stop myself, I lifted my hand to his face. “Soon, I hope—”

  The click of the door unlocking interrupted the moment. We both turned our heads to watch Joan come in with her backpack draped over one shoulder, keys in her hand, and an expression that betrayed mischief. Belatedly, I realized I still had my hand on Caleb’s face and was immediately consumed by a rush of blood to mine.

  Joan lifted an eyebrow. “Did I interrupt anything interesting?” With a long inquiring stare, she scanned us from head to toe. “Who am I kidding? The two of you must be the most boring of all young people. You’re an embarrassment to the age group, really. While I’m in school, couldn’t you at least have wild monkey sex in the living room?”

  Caleb’s earlier smile turned into a frown. “Watch it, girl! I may be young but I’m still your older brother.”

  The elfin girl huffed a little, threw her backpack into a corner, and passed us on the way to her room. “You mean geriatric brother, right?” She never stopped to see her brother’s reaction to her words.

  I looked at Caleb and he looked at me. As if by mutual agreement, we both tried to repress the laughter bubbling up our throats, but we couldn’t. Joan was a pistol of a girl, and I had come to adore her. She might as well be my little sister.

  I hope they never regret knowing me.

  ____________

  ESCAPE

  The bathroom was too small for my wings, but it was the only place in the house where I could freely stretch them out. Keeping them forever furled became very uncomfortable after a while, like wearing a pair of very tight shoes. Eventually you need to give your toes a little space. As I turned around, my right wing hit the shelf on the wall and a myriad of cosmetic containers fell to the floor, causing a racket. As I bent down to pick them up, my other wing whacked the blow-dryer off the counter. Just don’t move! I followed my own advice and stopped for a moment, enjoying the sensation of my totally opened wings.

  As I stood in the middle of the tiny bathroom in silence, I thought I heard the muffled sounds of crying. Both Joan and Caleb were home. I had left them on the couch arguing about what show to watch on TV. We had gone out for dinner at Caleb’s favorite fast food place and now, stuffed with fries and burger meat, had decided on a laid-back night of TV binging.

  I heard the sound again. I perked up my ears and was surprised to hear nothing. Caleb and Joan were anything but quiet when they bickered; the silence was deafening.

  In a swift move, I furled up my white wings and opened the door. Suddenly my chest began hurting with a strange urgency, a premonition of sorts. My weak angel superpowers hadn’t deceived me—as soon as I crossed the doorway, I saw Joan lying on the carpet, unmoving. Caleb was nowhere to be found, and the front door was wide open.

  I knelt by Joan’s still body, my heart beating a hundred miles an hour, and cradled her in my arms. “Joan, honey. Wake up.” As I tried to coax her out of whatever was ailing her, my gaze traveled to the door, pain crushing my chest. Where did Caleb go? Was he taken?

  The elfin girl began moving in my arms and her eyes fluttered open. “Where’s Caleb?” Her voice was hoarse and panicky. “They took him, Sky.”

  I brushed my hand over her hair, trying to calm her down. “Who took him?” The panic in my heart was rising and swelling like bread dough left in a warm room for too long. Somehow I knew the answer.

  “An angel… but not like you.” She sobbed into my arm. “He had black wings and evil eyes.”

  Not a surprise, but a shock nevertheless. “Samael,” I whispered, anger and fear forming a knot in my throat.

  “Where is he taking Cal?”

  Joan’s shaky voice made me swallow my fear. They needed me. It wasn’t the time to panic and lose it.

  “I have to go after him,” I said, anxious to find Caleb but reluctant to leave her alone. She sat up and looked at me with a question in her swollen eyes. I sighed. “Before Samael takes him somewhere no one wants to go.”

  “What do you mean?” Joan seemed wide awake now. It didn’t look like Samael or his lackeys had hurt her. He must have used a sleep hex on her, temporary slumber-on-demand, a common angelic trick.

  “I’ve been trying to figure that out since his accident.” Why lie? It wasn’t as if Joan didn’t know the truth about my kind.

  “Are you telling me it was no accident?”

  I nodded and helped her up from the floor. “Joan, I need to go before it’s too late. Promise me you’ll be okay, and keep that door locked while I’m gone.” Not that it would keep her safe, not from the likes of Samael and his minions, but there wasn’t much else I could do at the time. She nodded enthusiastically. I knew she would do anything to save her brother. “I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’ll do everything I can to bring him back safe and sound.”

  Rising on her tiptoes, my adopted sister kissed my chin. “I believe you. You’ll bring him back, I know it.”

  I gave her a small smile, hoping her faith wasn’t misplaced, and rushed to the door. Not daring to look back at her distraught face, I ran into the night, my wings fully unfolded and my toes already floating above the ground. For a fraction of a second, I wondered whether anyone would notice the shimmering of my presence. Pushing that fear into the back of my mind, I flew at full speed after the one I loved.

  I couldn’t be one hundred percent certain of where Samael was taking Caleb, but I was willing to bet it was to Hades, where the souls of the departed waited for transfer to the hellish realm of the dark angels. I headed there with a heavy heart. Please, don’t let him be dead.

  My love for speed was finally being put to some good use. Possibly the only thing I excelled at—being faster than any other angel, dark or light.

  Hades wasn’t far in angelic terms. Kind of like Neverland: second star to the right, and straight on till morning. The trick was to find the portal. For reasons that no one in Arcadia really understood, the location of the portal often changed. It was as if the dark angels wanted to prevent everyone from coming in uninvited, but then, who would ever want to go to Hades voluntarily?

  My status as the outcast was an asset for once. No one paid attention to me, and my presence was often overlooked during personal and largely secretive conversations, so I had once overheard a conversation between Gabriel and Michael about how to find the portal without spending the rest of your long seraphic life looking for it. I searched for the telling disturbance of light, like the edges of an ocular migraine: a shimmering rainbow, faded but definitely visible to those paying attention.

  With my wings flapping and my eyes performing a crazed scanning of the sky, I hadn’t had much time to wonder whether Samael had simply taken Caleb or if he had—no, I couldn’t think of that. He was alive. I could feel it in my bones.

  From the corner of my eye I saw it, the wavering of light with a hue of pink and red. The portal, finally. Not giving my brain the chance to question it, I propelled myself as fast as my wings could carry me through the invisible gate to Hades.

  I felt it before I could see it: the extreme heat, uncomfortable and sticky like a summer day in the tropics. The blue sky had vanished and what went for it in this place was reddish, spotted with threatening clouds heavy with lightning and rain. I wiped my brow, already covered in sweat, and looked around me. No one was in sight. At a distance, I could discern a structure of some kind, maybe a building. There was a pull inside my head as if Caleb was somehow telepathically communicating with me. Not for the first time, I wondered whether maybe a new bond had been created between us the moment I saved him from his death. Whatever it was, I followed my instincts and flew toward the building with renewed hope.

  The closer I came, the greater the fear in my heart. The building—if it could even be
called that—was huge, stretching as far as the eye could see. The top was hidden by the ominously thick clouds, and there were no windows anywhere. The surface of the structure seemed to be moving as if covered in millions of slimy, black slugs.

  Before I got close enough to be seen, I stopped and studied the place. The moving surface was in fact some kind of viscous black and reddish material that oozed from the top to the bottom in big, slow globs. I searched for a door but couldn’t find any. There must be a way in.

  While I half crouched behind a dead bush, a couple of angels alighted close by. I watched in morbid fascination as they carried a screaming soul between them, none too gently. The black wings of the angels flapped around them, evil-looking but magnificent, as they dragged the terrified soul toward the side of the structure. Baffled as to where they were going considering I couldn’t see an entry of any kind, I kept my eyes on the trio. They approached the oozing wall and walked straight through it as if it weren’t there.

  Immaterial walls, like the ones in Gabriel’s office but opaque. On one hand, I was happy to have figured out a way in, but my stomach revolted against the very idea of walking through that wicked slime.

  Bracing myself, I took a deep breath and rushed to and through the moving wall into—well, not exactly what I was expecting. Thankfully I had picked a good spot to enter the structure, for it took me to a small space half-hidden from the rest by a wall. The black goo I had passed through stuck to my feathers in spots, giving them the appearance of a snowy owl’s wings.

  The inside of the building wasn’t very different from headquarters, but darker. Much darker. And not because there were dark angels and wicked souls crawling all over it. The artificial light bounced off black walls and furnishings, giving the whole space a sickly aura. There were angels everywhere, talking to each other, escorting—more like lugging—souls to what I guessed were holding cells of some kind. Where the Arcadia headquarters had open spaces with no barriers or walls, this place was a maze of narrow corridors with lots and lots of walls. An open area seemed to be the hub of the whole building while around its edges, corridors and doors took the dark angels and their charges to other, more hidden parts.