Avenging Angel

by Tamsin Baker

  “You’re both still alive,” I whispered, unable to believe my eyes.

  Relief swept through my heart like a tsunami, taking my strength with it.

  I stumbled and clung to a nearby chair, my knees dropping to the floor. I could cry. Judging by the moisture on my cheeks, I was crying.

  “Yes. Barely,” Tabitha answered, the thread of her voice as thin as I’d ever heard it. It was odd to hear her speak this way when she typically was so strong and so certain. Now, it seemed as though she could barely get the words out.

  No wonder she couldn’t answer me when I’d called to her. She barely looked strong enough to speak at all.

  I clung to the back of the chair and pulled myself over to the head of the bed. Kadie looked so peaceful, like one recently claimed by death. I reached out to touch her but hesitated. My heart ached at the sight and my throat burned from swallowing the tears that rose. I wanted to feel her, to reassure myself that she was still here, that she was still alive, but I could not bring myself to do that just yet. I was afraid. I was afraid that I might be deluding myself and that Kadie was really dead.

  “Gabriel?”

  I turned to the doorway where both Margaret and Simone popped their heads in. They both were reluctant to come in, and I assumed it was because they did not wish to intrude. I appreciated their thoughtfulness. In truth, I had nearly forgotten they were present. Now that I was reminded, something might be able to be done about this.

  Tabitha lifted her head, her skin the color of a stormy sky. Grey, with black edges. Her eyes narrowed at the doorway, as though she could not sense whether she could trust these women or not.

  “You brought help?” she asked, her tone brighter than when I’d arrived. She must have sensed something in them that compelled her to trust them. Which meant I was right to trust them as well.

  Suddenly, realization hit me. My beautiful, immortal friend had thought she was going to die trying to save Kadie, and I loved her all the more for it. Gratitude caused my heart to swell and it almost hurt as it knocked against my chest in a slow, rhythmic pace. I did not deserve Tabitha.

  “You are not going to die, Tabitha, and neither is Kadie,” I promised. I did not know how such a promise was possible to make, but I believed it with every fiber of my being.

  I reached up and took hold of Tabitha’s arm. I wanted to disentangle Tabitha’s form from Kadie’s, but I paused when I felt the coldness beneath her skin. I wasn’t sure if that would kill one of them. Or both.

  “Don’t disengage them.” Margaret came up behind me, peering over my shoulder. I could feel stray strands of her hair caress my shoulder. I did not have to see her to know her eyes were narrowed, deep in thought. “They are too tightly bound together.” She pulled away, only to look over her shoulder. “Simone, can you work out exactly what they’ve been poisoned with?”

  Simone came closer and gently touched Tabitha and Kadie, inspecting them as a doctor would. Experience filled her youthful eyes. For someone as young as she was, it was clear she knew what she was doing within the realm of her powers and her capabilities. No longer was she the shy, meek girl I had seen at her aunt’s home. Given a task she was comfortable with, she was bold and certain. It reassured me greatly.

  Chapter 5.

  I stepped further away and decided to explain the past events that had brought us here, to help the Witches understand. Perhaps it would help them deduce what had happened to both Kadie and Tabitha. Plus, it gave me the sense that I was doing something instead of standing around, watching, feeling completely useless.

  “I found Kadie with the Demons a day ago,” I said. Even as I told her, it was difficult for me to believe that this had only been about a day ago. It felt as though eternity had passed. More than that, I was torn up internally at the prospect that so much could happen in a span of twenty-four hours, that Kadie could go from living, vivacious, and carefree to nearly dead. Quite honestly, it scared me, how much something could change in so little time. I had never really cared before because, to an immortal like me, time seemed meaningless. But now... so, so much had changed.

  I cleared my throat. Simone continued to look at me, and I realized she was waiting for me to go on. “She had been beaten badly, so I brought her here for Tabitha to help her.” I wrung my fingers together. I did not realize how difficult simply talking about the events that transpired would be. “But she succumbed to whatever poison they had fed her and Tabitha connected herself to Kadie to keep her alive, but...” I let me voice trail off. I did not know how to continue. Instead, I gestured to the mess of fragility before me. What else could I say?

  “I think it’s a mix of water hemlock and deadly nightshade,” Simone said after a minute. I had no idea where she had come up with that information. I did not know if she could sense things I couldn’t, or if she could simply look at Tabitha and Kadie and just know. However, it did fill me with hope that if Simone had an idea of what it was, there was an idea of how to treat it.

  “Why would someone do that?” Margaret asked, her eyes narrowed with anger. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly, as though she took what had happened to Kadie personally. Whatever this mixture was, it must be bad.

  I only had one question. “Can you help them?”

  I didn’t have any knowledge of poisons, let alone ones specifically designed for Witches. As much as I could understand their discomfort at the fact that something like this existed – which was clearly a threat to their kind – all I cared about was how to help Kadie and Tabitha.

  Simone and Margaret exchanged glances that would have gutted a lesser being.

  “Tell me,” I demanded. I curled my fingers into fists, trying to control my frustration. I wanted to know. I had a right to know. It was the only reason I brought them here in the first place, for this type of information. False hope was not hope, and I knew the difference.

  “We can try,” Margaret said quietly. However, there was little, if any, hope in her voice. If anything, it almost felt as though she were humouring me. “But it always depends on the strength of the Witch in cases like this... whether she can come back. They’re both very weak.”

  “They’re both very strong,” I corrected her. I did not mean to snap. My fingernails pierced my palms but I did not feel the pain. “Do whatever you need to do and I’m sure they’ll rise to the challenge.”

  Simone and Margaret exchanged another glance and Margaret nodded her head once. I did not understand the look that transpired between them, but when they both began to move, the tension eased out of my body and my fists unclenched slightly.

  Margaret grabbed for her bag and Simone hurried from the room, coming back with bowls of water. How she knew where bowls were, I didn’t know. I was just glad she didn’t ask. She was capable enough to figure things out on her own. I appreciated that, especially in times of high stress.

  “We need to make a tonic, try to cleanse their insides of the poison, then perhaps, a bath?” Margaret said, looking at Simone for guidance. It was strange that the older was looking to the younger for assistance.

  “Not yet.” Simone shook her head sharply once, her hair following her abrupt motion. She focused on placing the bowls of water on a nearby nightstand. “They’re too weak to be separated. But a poultice over any wounds may help.”

  There was something in Simone’s voice that seemed more reassuring than Margaret’s. For that, I was grateful.

  “I’ll make the poultice, you do the serum.” Margaret grabbed for her bag and pulled out a plethora of herbs and small glass vials.

  “What can I do?” I asked, hating the feeling of being so helpless. My fingers had completely relaxed by this point and I started shifting my weight from one foot to the other. I had all of this energy inside of me and nowhere to direct it. Even now, my wings tingled with the urge to fly around the small room because at least it was something.

  Perhaps I should check on Jasmine and my son. See if she needed anything.

  “I
need clean rags,” Margaret said, placing a variety of vials and containers next to the water bowls. She did not even look up at me, too focused on what she was doing.

  I could do that. I left the room and moved through the house. I tried searching for clean rags, but the only ones on hand were soiled.

  I’d never been inside Tabitha’s bedroom, but in it I found a wardrobe full of clean clothes. I tore some white dresses from the racks and took them back to Margaret. If this saved Tabitha’s life, I hoped she would forgive me. If not, I was more than willing to purchase a new wardrobe for her, if need be.

  “Her rags are soiled,” I informed Margaret when her face looked confused. “This was all she had that could be of use.”

  “All right,” the older woman said, surveying the clothes, before ripping one of them into several pieces. I almost envied Margaret, tearing and ripping up the dresses. My hands needed something to do and creating fists and releasing them was getting tiring.

  Simone mixed and ground several things together, the smell, one of Earth and ash permeating the room. It smelled of peace but also of grounding, as though a capable head was all one needed to restore peace and life.

  Please let this work.

  Simone spread her green and black mixture over three of the rags Margaret held out to her. “Help me put them in her most damaged areas,” Simone instructed. “There, there, and there.” She gestured toward each body part but I was unable to keep up with how quickly the young Witch maneuvered. It still fascinated me how commanding her voice was, even to her aunt.

  “May I?” I asked.

  I did not feel as though I should ask for permission. However, something about Simone compelled me to do so. She looked at me, curious, but nodded her head.

  “Aunt Margaret can hold the covers back,” she said. “You can place the sheets on the wounds.”

  That seemed reasonable. I could do that. I picked up two of the plasters and moved over to Kadie’s body. Margaret peeled back the sheet and I gasped at the horror before me.

  “She was fine only a few hours ago,” I said. My voice barely registered. If I was being honest, I could not say for sure if I had actually spoken out loud, or if those were the thoughts rolling in my head over and over again. She was fine, she was fine, she was fine. Though her body had been bloody and bruised, she had been otherwise untouched. There was still hope that she could be saved, that she could be healed, that she would be my Kadie again.

  “Here and here,” Margaret said, pointing to flesh wounds in Kadie’s neck and arms, reiterating what Simone had already instructed me to do.

  I blinked, shaking my head. Even though Kadie looked bad – and that was an understatement – I still had a job to do. If Simone thought there was still a chance, certainly I could hope for the same thing, could I not? At least, for Kadie’s sake, I would fight for her until she drew her last breath.

  I clenched my jaw. I did not even want to think of that.

  “Gabriel.” I glanced up, surprised to find Simone was the one who had spoken. She did not seem to be the type who was brusque with her comments, but it almost seemed when she was so focused, she did not realize what she was saying and how she was saying it. “I know the sight looks hopeless. But you must be more positive. Do you understand?”

  I nodded my head, feeling properly chagrined. I pressed my lips together and placed the poultice on each area. Margaret began smoothing the mixture over Kadie’s skin, into every little wound, bruise or injury.

  Within minutes, she looked like a mud wrestler.

  Tabitha let out a strange sigh. My eyes shot to her. The tension from her facial features seemed to relax, if only slightly. That had to be a good sign, right?

  I dropped to my knees and cupped her cheeks to draw her head up. When she was looking at me with pained eyes, I asked, “Are you okay?” It was a stupid question. Instead, I quickly amended my original question. “Are you feeling better?”

  She gave me a wobbly smile as though she knew I knew it was a stupid question, her eyes glinting in the same way it usually did when she was amused by something I did or said. “You owe me for this, you know that, right?” she said, growling in that teasing way of hers.

  I nodded fervently. “Of course. Anything.”

  “Don’t tempt me, Gabriel,” she mustered. “You know I have no fear in asking it of you.”

  I’d do another millennium of service and not complain once, if it meant they both survived this.

  Tabitha groaned, her eyes falling shut once again. “Good, good,” she mumbled. Whether it was directed to me or in general, I did not know. I was just glad she had the ability to talk still. I would sit attentively and listen to her read the phone book, knowing she was okay. “Now, keep going. I can feel a change in her already.”

  Simone seemed to be throwing everything she’d brought into her concoction. It was bubbling and churning, as though alive.

  “What are you making?” I asked, hoping my voice conveyed just how much I appreciated it. I was intercepted by her aunt, however, who shook her head and drew me away.

  Simone’s eyes were glowing with a white power and as she began to chant. She probably had not even heard my question in the first place. Instantly, I could feel the change in the air. Thank the Gods.

  Simone reached for two cups, dipped them into the swirling mess of purple and orange, and pulled them out. She handed them to me, her eyes still white.

  “Quickly,” she instructed. “They must drink.”

  Margaret took one of the cups from me and took it to Tabitha, who downed it instantly with the older Witch’s help.

  When she finished, Margaret removed the cup from Tabitha and stepped back to give my Angel Agent some space. Tabitha gasped and groaned and shook like she’d been poisoned herself. I tensed.

  I stared down at the still-moving mixture. Was this really the right thing to do? To Kadie? The mother of my child? Was it a risk I should take?

  “Angel!” Simone called, her voice harsh. “Now!”

  There was no mistaking the authority in Simone’s words and I gathered Kadie into my arms. Her head lolled back until it hit my shoulder. With my free hand, I tilted her chin down so her lips would part and then and tipped the cup to get the drink down her throat. Her lips were loose and half of it spilled down her chest, but I kept pouring, hoping some of it made it into her stomach. From my angle, I could see her throat bobbing up and down. I knew she was drinking it. I knew some of it was getting into her system. But would it be enough?

  When it was all gone, and Kadie’s beautiful body was covered in even more of the Witch’s magic than before, I lay her down against the pillows once again.

  Tabitha groaned and pushed herself to her feet, gagging on the liquid still moving through her system. As she stood up, she withdrew her hand from Kadie’s arm and panic flashed through me.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded to know. From my peripheral, I saw Margaret flinch at the sound of my voice, as though she wasn’t expecting such anger from me. I was not expecting it myself, but I did not take it back. I did not understand what Tabitha was doing, when releasing Kadie could mean her death. “Why are you letting go of her?”

  Tabitha waved a hand at me as she reeled back and sat on the opposite bed. She did not seem perturbed in the slightest by my aggressive tone. Instead, she brought a hand to her mouth and coughed and spluttered some more.

  “I’m not letting go of her,” she snipped, though her voice was still weak and filled with exhaustion. “Don’t worry, Gabriel. She’s on her way back to us. I can feel her. She’s gaining strength, and will soon be back with you thanks to the concoction your Witch friend made. Whoa...” Tabitha swayed a little and gripped the blankets on either side of her.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, though I wrung my hands together, not entirely sure how to put what I wanted to convey into words.

  She waved my apology off. “Don’t choke on your words, boy,” she said. “I know how difficult it is for you to ad
mit when you’ve made a mistake.”

  I smiled despite myself. “I should not have spoken to you that way,” I said.

  “No,” she agreed. “You shouldn’t have. But I do understand why you did.”

  “Thank you, Tabitha,” I whispered as I turned my attention to my woman. I sat on the bed and stroked Kadie’s forehead. Her hair was damp with cold sweat but her breathing was steady.

  “Come back to me, beautiful girl,” I whispered to her. “Our son needs you.”

  Kadie didn’t wake up, but I could see the changes beginning in her body. Her muscles began to repair. The streaks of red that indicated blood poisoning across her skin regressed and retreated. Color came back to her pale face. Her lips weren’t cracked or dry. Instead of looking as though she was on the brink of death, she appeared like she was just napping.

  I picked up my eyes and shifted them to the Witch who was responsible for Kadie’s health. “How long?” I asked her.

  Simone moved from where she had first made the concoction and was now checking Kadie’s vitals. She placed a finger against the inside of Kadie’s wrist, checking her pulse before cracking open Kadie’s eyes and checking out the dilation of her pupils.

  “I don’t know,” she said, running a hand over Kadie’s throat. She inspected some bruising that lingered there before dropping her hand to her side. “She does seem to be responding, which is good. I just don’t know how long this will take.” She let out a sigh. “We aren’t out of the woods yet. Not quite.”

  I lifted my gaze and met the young Witch’s. “You’ve saved her,” I said. There was awe in my voice, something I had not heard since I spoke with Kadie. I hoped this Witch knew how much what she had done meant to me. “I don’t know how I can repay such a debt.”

  She met my look head on. “You can find out those hunting us, and kill them all.” Her words were direct, so pointed, that I blinked in surprise. I did not expect such violence from someone so seemingly innocent. Then, I reminded myself that she and her aunt were enduring much suffering when it came to the disappearance of young Witches. Maybe some were her friends. She was forced to hide out with her aunt until her aunt deemed it safe. That was no way to live, especially for a young Witch with so much power and potential.