“Every one of my angels has some sob story, Haydn, and to be honest I’m tired of hearing them. Yes, you suffered without me. Yes, Lucifer was a dick to all of you. Yes, you all hate me. So what? Did you think that ending the world would be easy? Did you think it would be a grand adventure?” she sighed.
“I didn’t think it would involve being poisoned and tied to a chair,” he grimaced.
She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Every angel who volunteered to become my Predznak, that I have met so far, did it for their own selfish reasons. Balthazar did it because Delilah convinced him that it would be fun to do together. He thought he would finally get the girl. Well, he did get the girl, just not the one he wanted. Alazar volunteered because he thought he was already a murderer because he convinced the Celestial Warriors to do their job, which sometimes meant killing people. Tristan wanted to cut out the middleman and force the mortals to judge themselves instead of accusing them of a crime or proving they were innocent as an Advocate. So, Distrust, tell me why you stepped forward for the honor of becoming my Angel of Temptation. What sad tale do you have that will make me tear up and pardon you from a death sentence?” she asked sarcastically.
Haydn shook his head. Not only was she stubborn, but she was self-righteous. “Why are you so eager for us to end the world? Are you on some kind of timeframe I should know about?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes and slid off her chair to give her pets the remnants of the tuna. She petted their heads and walked across the patio toward him. Pulling off her sneakers, she sat and plunked her feet into the water with a splash.
“I don’t want to end the world, Haydn. I don’t want to kill people. Just because we are born to do something doesn’t mean that we will enjoy it. Whatever you were born to do was clearly not enough for you, so you chose this alternate path for your own reasons. I don’t seem to have a choice. I don’t get to ask for a new job, so I have little patience for my angels who have forgotten that they stepped forward to work for me. While I did spend time in mortal form with my memories and true personality bound, I still didn’t get to do what I wanted. I was encouraged to love the same men. I was forced to hide the problems I was dealing with, at least in my last life. I didn’t get to live happily ever after in any lifetime. Do you have any idea what it was like having nightmares of Hell and not being able to tell anyone? I understand that you suffered in Hell, Haydn, but you had the other Predznak to lean on. It was your choice to hate them. Do you know what it’s like to be able to see the sins of the mortals and believe that you are crazy? I didn’t have a choice in any of it, so don’t cry to me.
“I know that you are burdened by the sin you carry, but it’s because of your lack of faith. You allowed yourself to stray from your intended path. You didn’t wait for me and now you can’t see past your own pain to realize that I am here and that I can help you. Instead, you want to wallow and cry. You want to tell me how terrible your life is when you should be asking for help. I could end your misery in one of two ways. If you join me, I would release you from all the years of pain, or you could deny me and I would end your life, freeing you from everything,” she replied.
Haydn was surprised by her candor. He normally regarded every word spoken by a friend or foe as a complete and utter lie, yet he believed that Anjali was speaking the truth. Part of him thought about asking for help for one microsecond, but the feeling quickly passed. However, he did think about his brothers and how he should have leaned on them for support.
“I didn’t hate all my brothers,” he said, trying to focus on something other than the pain. “Balthazar and I had a pact. He was honorable enough to attack me head-on without any tricks or games. He was the only one I trusted when things were bad. If Balthazar wanted to kill me, he would have looked me in the eyes rather than stab me in the back. I respected him for that.”
She swished her feet in the water and squinted at him. “I’m told that you helped put Balthazar back together after his training sessions with Aeries. I also know that you were the one who stopped Balthazar from killing Aeries,” she stated.
Haydn glanced down at the ropes holding him. Though the rope binding Balthazar after his fight with Aeries was different, it still made him cringe when he thought about that horrible day. “I couldn’t watch Aeries die,” he said, clearing the lump from his throat.
“Why not?” she asked.
He hadn’t thought about the attack in years, yet it was so fresh in his mind. “Balthazar was moving so fast that none of us could track his arms or legs, not even Aeries. Aeries helped to train me when I was a Recruit. I respected him too much to watch him die, even though I didn’t particularly like him at the time. He was always out of control and quick to lose his mind. I hated seeing him like that because he was a far cry from the Lord Commander who I practically modeled myself after. Balthazar didn’t deserve the abuse Alazar and Aeries subjected him to, but if he didn’t learn how to fight, he would have died many times over the years. I did what I had to do to protect them both,” he replied. His heart had broken the second he threw the knives at Balthazar to stop the attack, but he had to step in before Aeries died.
Anjali nodded. “I wasn’t aware of your need to protect people. I assume that you volunteered to be a Recruit with the Celestial Warriors because of that need, but I can’t understand why you would leave the warriors to do the exact opposite. A Predznak is the furthest thing from a Celestial Warrior you can get. You offer the mortals a choice between good and evil, while the warriors save the mortals from evil. What would prompt you to follow this path, unless you modeled yourself so much after Aeries that you followed in his footsteps? If you wanted to be Aeries, you chose your model poorly,” she said condescendingly.
It upset him that Anjali believed he was nothing more than a follower. “Deception was chosen first, followed by Distrust. Anger wasn’t chosen until Delilah was denied the position of Desire and eventually Zacharael was chosen,” he snapped.
She raised her eyebrow at him. “My apologies. It must have been the other way around. You hated being a warrior and jumped at the opportunity to become something new and unknown. Did you want a fresh start or did you volunteer without thinking it through? I agree that there are many reasons to want to leave the warriors. They are pompous, self-righteous, and practically perfect in the eyes of Lord Michael, so much so that they could get away with anything. Personally, I hate them so much that I killed one,” she sneered.
Haydn gasped. He had heard rumors of a warrior dying in a freak storm and whispers that the Destroyer was responsible, but no one was willing to speak about it. Gabriel mentioned an incident during one of his long-winded speeches about why Anjali was delayed from joining them, but he never disclosed what had happened. Hearing Anjali admit it without a hint of remorse or regret in her voice was startling.
“Why did you kill a warrior?” he asked when he was able to form a coherent sentence.
She shrugged and tossed a leaf into the pool. “I can’t remember. My memories are still bound, but it’s why I was forced to become a mortal and why I was kept from you, presumably. It’s possible that the warrior deserved my wrath, or more likely, I lost control and killed him accidentally. Either way, I can’t change what happened, I can only move forward. It’s what you need to do,” she said bluntly. She put her hands in front of her mouth and yawned. Her eyes were heavy and her shoulders were sagging.
“I don’t know how to move on,” he muttered.
“That’s a shame, Haydn, because you won’t make it off this island if I have my way. I will fight any of my angels who believe they have the right to kill me. I will not entertain their petty reasons for wanting to make me suffer as they have. I do not fear any who oppose me and I will do everything within my power to make them understand that I am their master. I will not accept an angel who has given up on himself, who believes that I have nothing to offer him. I cannot trust that you will ever understand the truth of what it means to be a Predznak, which m
eans we are done here,” she declared.
Hearing the cold, bitter tone of her voice gave him chills. Seeing the difference between the Anjali smiling in the cave and the scowling woman determined to make him suffer for not obeying her, made his chest burn. This was the real face of the Destroyer, the one he had pictured for centuries. This was the woman who would force him into servitude. Apparently, the nice, concerned Anjali was nothing more than an act. He wasn’t sure if he felt vindicated or disappointed that Anjali was nothing more than a tyrant who only cared about using the Predznak to end the world.
Now that he understood who she really was, he needed to adjust his plan. Torturing her would be useless. She would resist him at every turn, which he should have realized after their fight in the cave. She wasn’t just stubborn, she believed that she had the right to command him as she saw fit, or kill him for his insubordination. Granted, he understood she had the right to do so as their master, but deep down he never believed she would invoke either right. She was nothing like Father, but then again, He created life while she was born to end life. He leaned his head against the chair and tried to figure out how to proceed.
When he heard splashing, he turned to see her pulling her feet from the water and standing. She marched straight toward him and kicked his chair, sending him closer to the edge of the diving board.
“Tell me where we are or you’re going for a swim,” she said coldly.
He saw the spark of determination in her eyes. She was prepared to drown him unless she got what she wanted.
“Even if I told you where you are, you have no way of communicating it to anyone. You’re stuck here until one of us concedes. Believe me when I say that it won’t be me,” he said with less fervor than he wanted since his muscles were so tight that he feared they would snap.
Staring into the true eyes of the Destroyer was an indescribable sight. It was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Something told him to yield in order to survive, but he couldn’t trust that feeling. It was the same feeling that had told him to pull her out of the water. If he wanted to survive, he knew that he had to kill her.
She crouched down next to him so that she was eye level with him. “Every Predznak before you thought that they could break me, yet I’m still the one in charge. Stand against me and you won’t like what happens,” she sneered.
Once again, Haydn believed her, though he wish he didn’t.
∞
Anjali drifted in and out of sleep in the uncomfortable lawn chair, cold and in pain. Her legs felt like she had run a hundred miles and her neck had a crick in it. She had searched the entire hotel and found no other means of communicating with the outside world aside from the dead cell phone. She needed to sleep but she couldn’t stop looking at Haydn to make sure he was secure. Wanting to cry at her desperate situation, she stared up at the sky and counted the stars. She hadn’t felt this hopeless since Týr had run her through with his sword and stuck her on the beach to wait for Jörmungand. She understood that the bonds were messing with her emotions and making her feel this way, but it didn’t matter. She was still in a terrible situation.
The jungle was louder than she had ever imagined which didn’t help her insomnia. The insects were constantly chirping and every so often a random howl indicated that an animal was awake and unhappy about something. She constantly jumped at the noises and allowed her paranoia to create hungry monsters in the darkness.
When a different sound came from the dark jungle, the ears of her companions perked up. They ran off into the row of palm trees that separated the stone patio from the natural foliage to confront the noise. Curious about their sudden departure, she took off after the barking balls of energy. It was possible someone had returned to the island to search for survivors or the owners of the hotel had come back to assess the damage, but it was well past midnight.
She dodged around the potted ferns and palm trees, and ran down the wooden plank path toward the beach. Using the light from her bonds, she searched the ground for dog prints until she reached the last bit of sand separating civilization from the natural growth of trees. Hearing the waves hitting the shoreline to her left, she turned to her right and looked through the dark tangle of trees.
She whistled for the dogs and waited, but they never came to her. They had stopped barking, so it was possible they had found their prey. Drumming her fingers on her leg, she debated if she should go after them, or stay with Haydn. After a long moment, she huffed and headed back to the pool. She had no doubt that they would return once their stomachs were empty or they were bored with chasing vermin.
Her hopes of being rescued disappeared, replaced by a deep sense of sadness and a longing to return home.
A noise behind her made her jump, but before she could turn around a hand covered her mouth as an arm snaked around her waist and lifted her off the ground.
Unwilling to be captured a second time, she wildly thrashed around in an attempt to get loose. She wished for her full power, but was only able to muster the strength of a toddler during a tantrum.
“Now, now, none of that, darling,” the man grunted, pulling her higher off the ground.
She threw her head back repeatedly until she heard the distinct crack of bone on bone contact. The arms around her loosened for a brief second, but it gave her enough wiggle room to break his hold. Falling onto the wooden planks, she struggled to her feet. The only way to protect herself was to get to Haydn’s knives sitting on a counter behind the outdoor bar. She cursed her stupidity for not having them on her, but she would have had trouble carrying them with her bound hands.
Gaining her balance, she locked her legs and prepared to sprint, but the man pounced on her back and took her to the ground.
“Get off me,” she yelled as she bucked her hips and squirmed to extricate herself.
“You will stop struggling,” the man commanded. He sounded exasperated by her efforts to throw him off, which made her fight harder.
“Over my dead body,” she snapped. She sounded childish, but her fatigue and hunger were quickly overwhelming her. All she wanted was her soft bed and a firm body pressed behind her while she slept.
“I don’t want it to come to that, which is why I need you to stop,” the man grunted.
He grabbed her shoulders to subdue her, but she arched her back in an effort to throw him off. He held on and they rolled off the path into leafy underbrush.
The man flipped them once more until he was able to roll on top of her and pin her lower body with his hips. Her bound arms were trapped between their bodies. A sudden flash of anger overwhelmed her when she saw that she was helpless to struggle against him. Instead of wanting to escape, she wanted to kill him.
“Remove yourself from me, or you will beg for death,” she sneered.
With his face finally in view, she could see his condescending smirk. He didn’t appear to be afraid of her even though she sounded more like the Destroyer than Anjali.
“Dying is easy. Living with the memory of it is much harder,” he replied.
She stared at him, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. “If you plan to hurt me, you’ll regret it. If you plan to kill me, make sure no one knows that you are responsible or you will be forever hunted,” she threatened.
He frowned and shook his head slightly as if he were tsking at her.
“Stop fighting me and I will let you up,” he said in a softer tone.
She relaxed her body and assessed his mood. He seemed to be telling the truth.
“Stop trying to knock me down and I’ll stop trying to kick your ass,” she replied in a sarcastically sweet voice.
He appeared amused by her tone and nodded his head. He got to his feet and leaned over to pull her up by her arms. The moment her feet touched the ground, she flashed the most seductive smile she could with sand in her hair and sweat clinging to her forehead. When he tilted his head to admire her smile, she laced her fingers together, swung her arms up, and hit him under the jaw w
ith her remaining strength.
Not waiting long enough to watch him land on his ass, she sprinted back to the pathway and headed for the pool. All she could think about was getting to Haydn’s knives, though she wasn’t sure if she wanted to use them to kill her would-be captor or use them to cut Haydn free and hope that he was healed enough to help her.
Hearing the man’s swearing behind her made her run faster. She thought about ducking into the trees to lose him and making her way to the resort from a different direction, but she was afraid he would follow the glowing light. If only she had thought to carry a towel with her so she could use it to cover the bonds at night.
“So much for your vow not to kick my ass,” the man shouted as he closed in.
“I never actually promised anything. Besides, you’re just going to try to knock me down again, so I preemptively kicked your ass,” she shouted. Her lungs were burning and her legs trembled from the strain.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” he growled.
She laughed at his version of the situation. “I have no idea who you are, but if you believe I will willingly surrender, then you truly don’t know me.”
She heard the even pace of his footsteps slow down as if he had stumbled or tripped on something. Not interested in finding out the reason for his decline in speed, she moved her feet as fast as her aching legs would go.
Seeing the flickering emergency light at the edge of the patio, she nearly cheered. All she had to do was reach the bar to the left of the pool. He would most likely think twice about attacking her if she were armed. There wouldn’t be time to free Haydn, but the confusion over seeing that she had her own hostage might give her some bargaining leverage until she came up with a decent plan.
The blood was pounding in her ears and her legs were mush. She wanted to welcome the black dots at the edge of her vision, but she didn’t have time to give in to unconsciousness. Having expended too much energy this evening, she would be unable to fight her assailant for much longer. She had to find a safe place to rest until she regained some of her strength.
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