by P. K. Tyler
“And you. What happens to you when you summon an angel? Huh? You die. Where does that leave this colony? They need you.” Vai’s voice lost all its heat and she dropped to her knees before Ma and Dika, taking their hands in hers. “I need you.”
“Vai, golubushka,” Ma gave her a wistful smile and ran her fingers down the side of Vai’s face, “this is what you need from us. There will be other oracles. You are their Bino-Wuzhokh, the only one. Our purpose,” she turned to Dika, pride shining in both women's eyes, “is to aid you to the best of our ability.”
“There has to be another way,” Vai said, her eyes puffing with unshed tears.
Dika turned to Nik, who was trying his best to stay out of what seemed to turn into a private, family matter. “You two need nothing more from us but this. It is the only thing we can do for you, now.”
“No. I won’t stand by and just let you kill yourselves.” Vai stood and turned on her heel. She paced the small room, desperation making her talk as much with her hands as her words. “We could call the other Kumpania, or call a meeting of the Diwano to discuss this.
“This isn’t Diwano business. We aren’t discussing a matter only affecting the Roma, this is something that could portend ruin for the entire world. The time for selfishness is over,” Ma scolded.
“I’m not being selfish,” Vai whined and flinched.
“This is the greatest thing we’ve ever done, the best thing we can do for you.”
Vai wiped a single tear that had escaped her eye. “It is the last thing you will do for me...” She walked outside, leaving the door open behind her.
Dika sighed and knelt on the floor in front of the low wooden coffee table and opened the box she’d brought into the room.
“She’ll need you now, Nik,” she said as she pulled each implement out and carefully placed them on the table.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Just be there for her, Vai is stubborn and this will be difficult for her. She already holds so much anger in her heart. She’ll need you to remind her to allow room for love.”
“Love,” Nik scoffed. “I’m not exactly the best one to teach anyone about that.”
Ma and Dika shared a smile before Ma chuckled, “I think you’re exactly the perfect person to do just that.”
Nik's curiosity got the better of him. He cleared his throat. A small bowl painted a gaudy blue caught his eye. “What’s all this for?”
“This will make angel water,” she said as she emptied packets of greenery and flowers into the bowl. “Myrtle, orange blossoms, and rose.” She added water from the kitchen sink, and slowly returned carrying the mixture.
She waited while Ma picked up a brown, glass bottle and brought a tiny, wooden bowl closer to her, dumping what looked like orange pebbles into it. “Benzoin,” she said, “to help summon the angel while keeping evil spirits from crossing into our realm when they arrive.”
She struck a match and the rocks actually lit on fire, casting a resinous smell into the small room.
Ma picked up the burning Benzoin and joined Dika near the door, her bowl of flowers still in her hands. The two women walked outside, carefully down the front steps, and out into the clearing amongst the trees encircling Ma's house.
A blueish-white glow blossomed at their feet, lighting their path.
Once they stopped walking, they turned to face Nik and Vai, who had joined them. They placed the bowls on the ground before them and straightened weary bones to stand proudly in the face of their decision.
Nik envied them. They chose a noble path. Willingly. They had a choice.
The glow spread into a full bloom that encased their entire forms, shone from their eyes. He stood in awe of a transformation he couldn't begin to understand.
Both women brought their hands up as though to pray, but their arms whipped up above their heads, spread apart in supplication. They blinked at the sudden loss of control of their limbs, but they put their shoulders back and held their chins high.
The glow turned white hot, red around the edges outlining their forms.
For one blinding moment, shadowed wings snapped out to either side of each woman and flapped, lifting them off the ground then dropping them.
Neither woman faltered, both landing as though a bird alighting on its path. As the white light faded up through their bodies, they joined hands and smiled at one another. The two lights joined together above their heads, the glow steadily feeding a ball of painfully bright luminescence.
As the ball ascended, Ma and Dika's hands dropped to hang at their sides. When they looked up, both of them focused their gazes on Nik.
They were gone. Nik could see the transformation in their eyes, in the double vision only he and Vai could see. Ma and Dika were no longer there, someone, something, else occupied these bodies.
"It's about time." Dika's voice lost its rasp, sounding, instead, like lyrics sung by a natural talent who hasn't yet learned the power of her voice. It was low, for a woman, and loud enough to make Nik wince. If she shouted or screamed, he had no doubt the people in the city would hear it from here.
Ma smiled, "Anahita, soften your voice." She returned her attention to Nik. "This is her first time. I am Elemiah. We have been waiting for the descendants of Christ to call upon us. We are here to help you."
A dark look passed across what was Dika's features, but now, Nik supposed, was Anahita. "There is not much time." Her voice sounded almost like a growl, reverberating within Nik's chest. A weight settled like fear into the pit of his stomach.
Not much time for what?
CHAPTER FOUR
The drive north to the gypsy camp passed quickly. Adel sat in the back, secretly giving Belial pieces of Delphina's body to munch on so he could continue to grow into the strong boy his destiny dictated he would be.
Keeping the baby's name from an ever more agitated Zeph was difficult, but Adel kept her focus on her charge and listened to the voice of Asmodeus whispering to her with his singsong voice. A voice like that could seduce a girl. If she weren't already joined with him, she could imagine falling in love with a man like Asmodeus if for no more reason than to listen to him whisper sweetly to her as she fell asleep at night.
And I feel the same, my love.
Joy filled her heart as she used the nail clippers she kept in her purse to cut off another small chunk of Delphina’s tongue for her baby. This was the family she was meant to have. The three of them together, forever.
"Moon!" Belial said, pointing out the window with a chubby finger.
"Yes, that's the moon. Soon you'll be able to see the stars and sometimes the planets as well." Adel leaned over the seat to peek out at the evening sky with her son.
"Will you stop talking to it like it's a real person?" Zeph's voice was tight, like a strong wind forced through a narrow tunnel in the winter time.
"He's talking, I can't stop him from talking. It seems wrong to not try to understand him and talk back."
"You're probably right, the more we can learn from it, the better. It just gives me the creeps."
“What does the bible say about, ‘more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by man...’?”
"That's Shakespeare, not the bible," the priest corrected, "and you got the quote wrong."
"Still. Don't you think it's possible that this baby is a part of God's plan? That he was sent to us for a reason?"
"Adel, there's no way that what happened to Delphina is a part of God's plan."
"Some faith for a priest," Adel grumbled.
Zeph gripped the steering wheel so tightly Adel could see his knuckles glow in the dim moonlight. Her brother had always been stubborn. Stubborn and angry, just like their father.
After a moment of uncomfortable contemplation, she dismissed the thought and turned back to Belial, feeding him the last of Delphina's toes.
"Tank koo!" The baby said after he chewed and swallowed.
The car swerved as Zeph craned his neck to look in th
e back seat. "Did that thing just say 'Thank You'?"
Zeph's eyes widened as he took in the child sitting in the seat next to Adel. His body appeared to be that of a five or six-year-old and his eyes glowed black with a sheen of red. Almost as if, no matter what he looked at, the reflection was that of a glowing red sun.
"Damnit!" Zeph slammed a hand against the steering wheel as he sped up.
Adel ran her fingers through the thick hair growing on Belial's head. It curled sweetly around his little ears. She wanted to hold him on her lap and teach him all the things she learned about life and love. Her only hope was to keep him from feeling any of the pain she had grown to know. The longer she focused on the child next to her, the stronger Asmodeus' presence became.
Your brother will never understand. He'll let that man...Nikolai...he'll let him kill our child.
Adel nodded in the darkness and pulled Belial against her side.
He laid his head against her breast and sighed as she continued to run her hand over his arm in the absent minded touch of a mother.
Look at everything that's been done to you. Everything you've suffered all because Nikolai came into your brother's life. If it weren't for him, you would have never been alone. If it weren't for him, you would have never had to cry yourself to sleep at night. Imagine the life you would have if Nikolai had never come into it. We will have that life. You and me and our beautiful child.
I deserve it, Adel thought. I've never had a chance to be who I wanted to be.
All because of men like Nikolai, and men like Brennan, but you have to protect Belial.
With my life, Adel promised the voice in her mind.
When she vowed her life to protecting the child, a great warmth washed over her. It pressed her against the back seat and she could feel the smooth leather beneath her. She could smell not only the sweetness of Belial, but the fear rolling off her brother, the gasoline churning in the tank, and the darkness of the night outside.
As she focused on the sudden minutia of senses, the smells and sounds of every heartbeat and every rotation of the car's wheel, she felt herself shrink back, lost in a world of love and protection.
Asmodeus swelled, overtaking her. No longer her equal, no longer her other half. Now, he reached out and lifted her hand to look at it through her eyes and all she could do was watch.
Take care of my baby, she thought.
I will. Trust me and I will take care of you both.
And with that thought in her mind, Adel drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
Anahita reached for her sleeve and tugged it up, looking confused as she did so. Ma, or Elemiah, just shook her head and smiled.
"Your armor is not there, Anahita."
"How am I to fight without armor?"
"It is but one demon holding the Crypt of Relics." Elemiah patted her arm and turned toward the house. "I'm sure we'll be fine."
Nik and Vai followed both women back inside.
Back in the living room, Vai slumped onto the sofa, hands in her lap.
"Is it done?"
Anahita and Elemiah shared a worried glance.
"Is this supposed to be the Sin Eater?"
"Anahita, please. Be patient."
She snorted, then strode deeper into the house, tossing back over her shoulder, "I'll be waiting at the door."
Nik felt like a washrag, saturated and weighed down with an overload of information he couldn't begin to process, and then wrung out and tossed over the line to drip dry. He’d almost grasped the secrets of the Roma’s Bino Wuzhokh, but now all he had left were trickles of ideas, pieces of a whole that disappeared as quickly as they occurred to him.
He understood one thing and, though helping others through grief had never been his strong suit, it was the only thing he could do now. Nik knelt behind Vai and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her close but allowing her the distance she needed. She seemed so small to him now, like a child.
As soon as he had a good grip on her, something broke loose inside her and she quietly wept. Vai–strong, hard-headed, independent Vai–trembled in his arms. He couldn't bear her pain. She'd become like family to him. Though the brunt of the loss of Ma and Dika was hers to bear, he wept with her, sharing her pain.
Vai settled with a sudden, deep breath. A final shudder passed through her shoulders, then she and Nik both stopped crying.
He pulled back, placing his palms on her shoulders and giving one last squeeze before he stood and walked around to face her.
Nik held his hand out and Vai took it without hesitation, and without looking at him. He wondered at that last part. She had always met any interaction with eye contact. He'd never noticed it before, but now that she was avoiding his gaze, it seemed so out of character.
Ma/Elemiah spoke, "We must take back that sacred place." The voice coupled with her strong, warrior's stance, reinforced to him that this was not Ma. He felt a sharp pang in his heart and imagined how much worse this must be for Vai.
Vai displayed a strength that Nik could only admire.
"We could have managed just fine without you. We just needed to get Ma out of there. Nik and I could have–"
"Gotten killed. That is all. If you had gone back in there, you'd have gotten killed." Whatever might have been left of Ma's countenance fled in that moment when Elemiah's patience ran out. "You are a foolish child, Vai. Prideful to the point of being a danger to yourself. You cannot afford to be so selfish, not anymore. You are a Sin Eater, the only one who can protect your people. Do what you must to get this out of your system, but do it quickly."
Vai opened her mouth as though she would interrupt, but Elemiah didn't allow her a chance.
"You two will be next to useless without the weapons of Christ. After we defeat the demon inside the Crypt of Relics, we must gather our resources and find Belial. You two can wait here while we take care of the demon in the alternate realm. Every moment Belial remains within the world of life, the tear in the veil between Lucifer’s realm and yours rends wider. The balance between good and evil in the world of life has been thrown so far off, we need to fix this as quickly as possible."
"What the fuck is Belial?" Nik slowly turned his gaze to Vai, who stood wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
Vai nodded slowly. "Lucifer's son. But, how–"
Anahita came back into the room, a storm cloud rapidly approaching the fumbling and confused Vai.
"We don't have time for this. Belial grows stronger by the second."
“You’re going to make some fucking time for it,” Vai snapped. Her tether on her temper snapped. “You just cannibalized my family, I think the very least you can do is give us some answers! You were called here to help with the demon in the Crypt. What does Belial have to do with any of this?”
“I have no time for your tantrums, child,” Anahita countered, stepping toward Vai with menace.
“I’m not having a tantrum, I’m just not letting you walk in here and start barking orders. You may be an angel, but I am not one of your fucking foot soldiers.”
It was pure reflex and stupid besides, but Nik stepped between the two women and placed his hand on the angel's upper arm.
Dika's once brown eyes had lightened to an amber and fairly glowed with the intense frustration Anahita barely managed to keep contained. She glanced down at Nik's hand, then glared at him.
Nik couldn't even begin to put any of the chaotic thoughts in his mind into words, so he just stood his ground. If the angels really were here to help, they'd prove it right now.
“She has a point you know,” he said to the angel.
If they'd turn against them, well...
Elemiah placed a hand on Anahita's shoulder.
"You're right, we don't have time for this. Let's go, you and I can handle the demon so the Crypt of Relics is no longer under Hell’s control while they...acclimate."
She turned without another word and left the room. Anahita glared at Nik for a moment, then at Vai, before she left to
o.
Vai breathed out in a loud whoosh as Nik's arm dropped to his side. He felt shaky, but kind of giddy. Like the first time he'd faced a possession and saved a man's life. It had been just as dangerous, and he was just as relieved when the ordeal was over.
He wasn't too sure about Elemiah, but Anahita, in her Dika-skin-suit, scared the shit out of him.
"Vai, we aren't really going to let them in there without us, are we? Can they even get in without you?"
"Hell no. I mean, no they aren't going without us. But I have a feeling they can do pretty much whatever the hell they want. Come on." Even though the room was close, they sprinted the short distance through the house to enter right behind the two angels. Nik and Vai stopped short just inside the door. The Crypt of Relics looked like a fireworks display against a background of ethereal night.
The door slammed shut behind them and Anahita's voice rang out, making Nik jump. "Stay by the door, but keep it closed. "She was a blur of light, like a giant sparkler with a booming voice and a mind of its own.
The room was a mess. Books and scrolls and weapons lay scattered across the floor. Sparks showered down from her brilliant form, but caused no harm when they landed on the pages or on the rug beneath.
A tendril of inky black whipped out toward Vai's face. Before Nik could react, another luminescent form blazed in front of them, chasing the tendril back into the darkness encompassing the room.
"Elemiah, stay with them."
Elemiah's light was like iron heated to the melting point, bright orange-white with a thin outline of red around the edges. Nik was fairly certain that if he reached out to touch her, he'd get burned.
Even standing this close to her, though, he didn't feel any warmer than normal. He stretched out a hand toward her light, then turned his palm so he could see it.
He'd reverted to stone. He'd shut himself off from the world around him, yet again, pulled inside a protective shell that served as both his protection and his prison.
He didn’t have the time for introspection, he needed to help them kill the demon. Or at least help keep it contained within the room. He was at a loss, though. Last time they found it, the demon had taken form. They could hit it when it was solid. He didn't see how they could kill the wispy thing it was now.