Black-Winged Tuesday

by Alicia Ryan

  Mary leaned down and pulled the black feather he’d given her out from under her pillow. She looked at its sharp silver tip then back up at him. “I was going to use this.”

  He smiled and leaned over to take it from her hand. “Smart girl. Stay here.”

  He turned, but felt a tug on his jacket sleeve. “Can you…can you do that sort of thing? I mean, you’re an angel.”

  Tuesday let out a breath. “Better me than you, Mary. My soul still has a few stains. One more won’t hurt.”

  She looked at him, and then nodded. “Thank you,” she said. Tears gleamed in her green eyes.

  Tuesday walked silently down the carpeted hall, making himself invisible. Red Bull never saw it coming as Tuesday plunged the glinting feather all the way through his neck.

  A torrent of blood spurted in all directions, and Red Bull’s face registered shock, his hand shooting up to clutch at the wound. The next moment, Tuesday found himself looking at empty space. Blood soaked him, and the counter and the floor, but Red Bull was gone. If Ariel was right, he’d doomed Red Bull to nothingness, and he couldn’t help the slightly queasy feeling it caused.

  Folding his wings in and making himself visible again, he turned to Mary’s still frightened face. Seeing her expression resolve into relief, Tuesday felt better. Regrets would wait for another day.

  “Don’t come in here yet, Mary. Let me get this cleaned up first.”

  “He’s gone? Really gone?”

  Tuesday nodded. “You don’t have to worry. He won’t be coming back.”

  “How…the first time? How did he come back?”

  “He wasn’t supposed to, but being dead doesn’t rob you of free will. It isn’t wise to pick up and go where you’re not supposed to, though, and that’s what Red Bull did. If I hadn’t been here, someone else would have been sent to take care of him.” He wondered if that was true. Would Lucifer even have killed him or just given him some sort of punishment?

  He turned away from Mary and began pulling paper towels off the roll on the counter. “Do you have a trash bag?” he asked. “I’ll take all this with me so you won’t have to see it.”

  “Cabinet under the sink.”

  Tuesday completed his task in silence, wiping everything down with bleach when he was done. He threw the trash bag outside, willed himself into clean clothes, and then turned back to Mary.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve your protection.”

  Tuesday’s lips flattened into a half frown. “You didn’t have to do anything to deserve protection from Red Bull, Mary. But he’s really gone this time, I swear it.”

  She nodded, looking at the floor.

  “And I’ll soon be gone, too. I’m kind of new to this. I don’t know if I’ll be able to check on you in the future, but please don’t ever feel alone. There is a God, Mary, and I can only assume he answers prayers.”

  She smiled at him. “He must.”

  Tuesday laughed, but then turned serious once more. “You’ll be okay?”

  She nodded. “I’ll be okay.”

  Tuesday spied the feather still lying on the kitchen table. He leaned over and picked it up. “I’m going to take this with me. I didn’t think about how dangerous it was. I shouldn’t have given it to you. I’d never forgive myself if you hurt yourself accidentally with it.”

  “I understand.”

  “You’ll just have to remember me without it,” he said with a smile.

  She returned it. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

  Tuesday leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Goodbye, sweet Mary.”

  She wrapped him in a tight hug, and then stepped back to look up at him. “Goodbye, Herman Morrie.”

  For a moment, a vision of how his life might have been scrolled before his eyes. If he’d gotten that dance…a girlfriend, a wife, kids…normalcy. Where were the guardian angels when quiet, teenaged boys needed them, he wondered.

  Turning away from her was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but somehow he found himself outside the trailer, reminding himself that Mary Louise was not his destiny. She never had been. He grabbed up the trash bag and flew with it to the diner to deposit it in the big dumpster outside.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When he got home, there was no sign of Price, which wasn’t a surprise, but there was yet another angel sitting on their sofa, which, despite all their previous uninvited guests, still came as a shock.

  A veritable Apollo sat rigidly straight-backed, glowing against the red couch. Everything about him glowed, from his white-gold hair to his flowing white robe to his jewel-yellow eyes. Tuesday had never thought yellow eyes could be beautiful, but on this angel they were.

  He stood and seemed to glow even brighter. His white wings had a pearlescent sheen that heightened the effect. “Do you know who I am?”

  Tuesday shook his head.

  “Gabriel,” he said. “My name is Gabriel. I’ve been sent with a message for you.”

  Tuesday felt a tremble shake him all the way to his bones.

  “The Father is disappointed, but also worried.”

  He extended a hand, offering up what looked like a thin, silver, cuff bracelet. “Take it,”

  Tuesday reached out with shaking fingers.

  “Put it on your left wrist.”

  Tuesday did so, and the open cuff grew from both ends to seal around his wrist.

  “Only you can remove it.” Gabriel nodded toward the bracelet. “Go on. Give it a try.”

  Tuesday grabbed the bracelet, gave it a tug, and watched the cuff open and slide off.

  “Lucifer is making a play for you,” Gabriel said. “The Father won’t resort to such tactics, but he resents an uneven playing field. If you come to him, you must come on your own, but with that bracelet on, Lucifer will not be able to read and control you. The channel of his mark will be closed.”

  Tuesday quickly slipped the bracelet back on, and the metal stitched itself together once more.

  “Th…Thank you,” he stuttered out.

  “Don’t thank me.” Gabriel’s voice was stern. “I will not come to you again. You are on your own, little Tuesday.”

  The light and the archangel disappeared, leaving Tuesday blinking and trembling in the middle of his living room.

  He avoided the sofa and sank down onto a bar stool, helping himself to a shot of Price’s whiskey.

  It didn’t help, and it didn’t take Tuesday long to decide he needed to see Ariel again.

  ***

  He went first to her public rooms on the third level of hell. There was no bouncer this time, so he walked back into the bar. It was just as dark and strangely lit as before, with shadows in places there shouldn’t be shadows. He stuck to the center of the room as he approached.

  The bartender, this time with a human form, eyed him warily from under heavy dark brows. “Drink?”

  Tuesday shook his head. “I’m looking for Ariel. Is she downstairs?”

  The angel reached under the bar and pulled out a datebook. When he settled on a page, he ran his finger down the entries and looked back up. “She’ll be down in half an hour. You can wait here if you want. She usually stops here first.”

  Tuesday cast only a brief glance at the crowd, mostly demonic, not angelic. “I’ll wait downstairs. If you’d tell her I’m here, I’d appreciate it.”

  The bartender stared at him. “And you are?” he asked finally.

  “Oh, sorry. I’m Tuesday.”

  The bartender snorted.

  “Just give her the message.”

  The bartender unfurled big, ashen colored wings. “I don’t take orders from you.”

  Tuesday’s eyes widened. “For the time being, I’m Ariel’s…consort, I guess, so I think you should give her the message.”

  For a moment, the bartender’s stance flickered, but his chest puffed out again. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Fine,” Tuesday
replied. “If you just want to play ‘whose is bigger’…” He unfurled his own wings. They stretched the length of the bar and darkened the room. He heard conversations drop off behind him. “I win,” he said simply. “Now give her the message.”

  Gray wings disappeared. “Sure thing.”

  Tuesday shook his head, left, and winged his way down to Ariel’s private floor, relieved to be alone when he landed in her lovely, jeweled courtyard. A diamond bench beckoned to him, but he added some cushions before he sat down. He had so much to ask her. He tapped his heel on the sapphire floor.

  As the wait stretched on, he began fingering the bracelet around his wrist. It made him a free man, no longer bound to Ariel or Lucifer. He wondered why he wasn’t happier about that. He missed Ariel.

  “Someone’s got a pretty new bauble.”

  Tuesday looked up, gaping, meeting black eyes instead of the crystal blue ones he’d been expecting. “Lucifer.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t feel it?” He grabbed Tuesday’s wrist, pulling him up off the bench. “Let me guess. A little gift from the Almighty Asshole?”

  Tuesday nodded vigorously. “Gabriel brought it.”

  Lucifer dropped his wrist, and Tuesday chided himself for missing the intensity of the contact.

  “How’d you like that self-righteous prick?”

  “Um…he didn’t really stay long enough for us to hang out. Just gave me this and left.”

  “Figures. Righteous condescension is his specialty.” He eyed the bracelet again, and then looked back up at Tuesday. “I wouldn’t put too much faith in that if I were you.”

  Tuesday swallowed as Lucifer stepped closer. Darkness seemed to swirl around him, but Tuesday thought it might just be that his head was swimming. Clearly Lucifer’s presence had its own effects, beyond what had been coming through the mark.

  “I still want to know what Ariel’s up to, Tuesday. If you’re smart, you’ll want the same thing.”

  “I’ve told you everything I know.”

  “I believe you. And I believe Ariel has been telling you the truth. But here’s the thing about our Ariel – she seldom tells the whole truth. Only she knows what she’s up to, but if she trusts you, maybe she’ll tell you more.”

  “I can’t spy on her for you.”

  “No? Then do it for yourself. You’re a pawn, Tuesday. Figure out why.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not true.”

  Lucifer laughed. “Well, you’re right – I’d have no trouble lying to you, but sometimes the truth serves just as well. Like now.”

  He took a step closer, and Tuesday had to fight the urge to bow. Lucifer’s power was undeniable and nearly irresistible.

  “Just because I can’t influence you through the mark doesn’t mean you’re not in my charge, Tuesday. Your life, your ability to come and go, whether your eternity is spent with freedom or under torture – all these remain under my control.”

  “Threats will get you everywhere,” Tuesday said on a gulp. “But I can’t lie to Ariel. I just don’t have it in me.”

  “I haven’t asked you to.” And with that he disappeared.

  Collapsing back onto the bench, Tuesday hung his head between his knees and stared at the gleaming floor. How had he gotten into so much trouble?

  “Tuesday?” Ariel asked, her voice washing over him a few minutes later.

  He looked up to see her standing just inside the courtyard banister. “Ariel. God, I’m glad to see you.”

  “What’s happened?”

  He barked out a laugh as she approached. “What hasn’t happened? Lucifer and Gabriel have both come to my apartment to chat. That’s for starters.”

  “Oh my.” She looked down at the mark on his wrist.

  “Yeah.”

  Sinking to her knees, she cradled his face in her hands. “I swear I didn’t know this would happen, Tuesday.”

  “Well, it seems God didn’t think it was fair either. He delivered me this little cut-off switch,” he said, fingering the bracelet.

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s what Gabriel came for – to give me this. When I wear it, Lucifer’s mark doesn’t work.”

  Ariel raised a brow. “Unintended consequences seem to be the order of the day with you.”

  “I feel like a ping pong ball. I’m with you; I’m with him; I’m not with him.”

  “Did Lucifer say you were no longer to see me?”

  He caught the concern in her voice and wondered if there wasn’t a tinge of fear as well. “No, he said I could still see you. I think he’s more interested in what you’re up to than he is in me. He just sees me as a tool for finding that out.”

  She let out a dry laugh. “You are dreadfully honest.”

  “I can’t do this, Ariel. I can’t be a go between for you and Lucifer. I can’t.”

  “I’m not sure how to help with that, my love, but I promise I will think on it.” She brought her lips to his. “I can help in other ways.”

  He met her blue eyes and felt some of his tension slip away.

  “Let me love you, Tuesday.”

  He dropped to his knees in front of her, opening himself up as they leaned forward and merged into one. When her wings extended, he stretched out his own, shivering at the eroticism of combining his wings with hers. He felt a wave of joy wash over him, her joy at their coming together, and he let himself bask, then wrapped his arms – their arms – around them both and beat his wings to propel them through the far doorway and up into the aerie.

  As they rose, everything fell away. All his concerns, all his questions, all his uncertainties – they melted in the heat of a blue flame that made him delirious with love and desire. They neared the top of the aerie, their breath coming fast, senses soaring.

  “Take off the bracelet.”

  Tuesday didn’t hesitate. He trusted her.

  The bracelet clattered to the floor below, and Ariel placed their hands over Lucifer’s mark. He felt her blue flame shoot hot and cold up his arm, and then he was overcome by sensation. Joy and ecstasy flowed between them, around them, through them. Tuesday let out a shuddering cry as they fell and fell back toward the ground.

  It was Ariel who caught their fall this time, laying their combined bodies gently on the hard floor. He barely noticed when she let go of his wrist, but when she pulled out of him, it was the same as before – searing pleasure and searing pain. He wondered if it was the same for all archangels – or only with Ariel because that was her dominion, pleasure and pain.

  The cool metal of the bracelet felt odd when she clapped it around his heated skin.

  He looked over at it. “Why did you want it off?” he asked.

  She lay back down beside him. “Just giving Lucifer a taste of his own medicine.”

  “I wish you hadn’t done that. He may not be able to kill you, but I assure you, he won’t have any trouble offing me.”

  “Perhaps you should go see him.”

  “What?” Tuesday’s head jerked up. “Why would I want to do that?”

  She caressed his shoulder in soft, short strokes. “I don’t believe Lucifer is indifferent to you.”

  Tuesday groaned and dropped his head back to the floor. “Don’t say that. I think indifferent is the best I could hope for.”

  “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

  He turned his head to study her face. It was closed to him now, her expression enigmatic. “He’s right, isn’t he? You are playing some game – and it’s about him, not me. Are you trying to make him jealous? Is it really him you want?”

  She threw back her head and laughed. “My dear Tuesday,” she said, smiling and smoothing her hand over the side of his face, “you couldn’t be more wrong.”

  Tuesday shook his head. “I don’t know if I can believe you, Ariel. Everyone tells me not to.”

  Her expression fell. “I genuinely like you, so I will give you one bit of advice. You should listen to what they tell you.”

  Tuesday sat up. “What?�
��

  Ariel sat up, too, leaning back on her hands and looking up into the aerie. “I hope you won’t forsake me, Tuesday. What we have is real, and I’ve never lied to you about that.”

  “What have you lied to me about?”

  “Nothing.”

  He remembered Lucifer’s words. “But you haven’t told me the whole truth.” A deep sadness started somewhere in his gut and began to spread outward like a cancer.

  “No, I haven’t. But I’ve told you enough. You’ll figure it out. And when you do, you will decide if you can forgive me. I hope so.”

  “Is it so bad?”

  Ariel took a deep breath. “Only if it doesn’t work.”

  Tuesday dragged his hand down his face. “You only ever give me riddles.”

  “Don’t say that. I’ve given you something special, and I hope you’ll remember that. You’ve seen my soul, Tuesday. It is clouded, but it is not evil. That much you know for sure.”

  He knew that was true, and it helped him breathe easier. “And now you want me to go see Lucifer?”

  “I do.”

  “I don’t understand, Ariel. I truly don’t.”

  “Then just take it on faith?”

  He laughed reluctantly. “That’s probably easier than trying to figure out what you’re up to. If you pulled the wool over God and Lucifer, I don’t know why you’d think I can figure you out.”

  “You share my motives, Tuesday. No one else comes as close to me as you.”

  He shivered, remembering just how close they’d been, and missing that feeling of oneness. Had it just been an illusion?

  He stood up, offering her his hand and pulling her up beside him. “I will go see Lucifer if you wish it. Should I come back here?”

  Ariel shook her head. “Not immediately. It might anger him more than is wise.”

  He turned away, suddenly unable to look at her beautiful face when he wasn’t sure he could trust it. Clothing himself, he strode out into the courtyard and dropped over the side.

  ***

  Unlike all the upper levels, the lowest level of hell was not open to the surrounding space. Tuesday flew all the way around, looking for a more welcoming entrance than the one dark, narrow door he could see. This level was smaller than the others, but it still took longer to get around its circumference than Tuesday reckoned it should have. He was struck again by the sensation that space didn’t quite follow the rules of physics down here.